The Black Panther
by High Rhulain
Summary: The Black Panther is a superhero who guards Konoha City: his alterego? Sasuke Uchiha. What happens when the Panther comes crashing down into the life of a young medical student? Literally...he comes through her ceiling... SasuSaku
1. Meeting the Black Panther

**Disclaimer:**** If Naruto was mine... –rubs hands together- oh, the things I would do. Enjoy!**

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"So, Panther, how does it feel to know that you are weak?" the man in the black cloak hissed, kicking the one who lay prone at his feet. The Panther stirred feebly, coughing up blood.

"Oh, poor Panther, looks like he's injured," the other man sneered. "What do ya think, Kazu, should we finish him off?"

"Leave that to gravity, Hidan," the second man in the black cloak said carelessly. "We've got the money, let's get outa here."

Hidan grimaced. "But I wanted to have some fun with him!"

"Not now, Hidan," Kazu reprimanded. "You beat the Panther, our orders were to get the money and get away as fast as we could. Nothing about killing the Panther, much as I'd like to."

He grimaced at the prone, black-clad body. The Panther's hand slid to the chokoto he had dropped when Hidan had struck him with his sickle.

"I'm…not…giving…up…"

"Nope, but you're going down!" Hidan sniggered as he kicked the Panther hard in the ribs. With a silent gasp of pain, the Panther flew off the edge and disappeared. It was a long way down from the top of the skyscraper bank that Hidan and Kazu were standing on.

"Bye bye!" Hidan mock waved over the edge. Kazu grabbed him roughly.

"Come on!"

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Down…down…down…

CRASH!

The Panther had too much momentum; he crashed right through the flat cement roof of the apartment building that lay below the bank. Through the roof…

His broken, battered, and bleeding body landed heavily on something soft. The roof had broken his freefall, he gazed up in a daze at the hole shaped like his body punched through the roof. Gray and cloudy sky stared back at him.

Then a scream, a moan of pain…and blessed darkness.

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A cool cloth brushing his brow, an aching feeling…

There was a gasp as the Panther gripped the hand that was cooling off his brow. His dark eyes snapped open.

"Who are you?"

He found himself staring into the surprisingly deep depths of a girl's jade eyes. He was lying on a couch, still covered in blood from his battle. And then he realized…

She had taken his mask off.

"Lie still," she said firmly. "You've been injured."

He let her continue with what she was doing, releasing her wrist. He noticed that his fingers had left red welts on her skin.

"How did I get here?" he asked, trying to make sense of what had happened. Kazu… Kazu had gotten away…

The girl stared at him oddly. "You don't remember? You fell right through the ceiling into my apartment. Gave me quite a scare!" She nodded at the hole in the ceiling, which was currently covered with a piece of tarp. "It was going to rain, so I had to go up to the roof and lay down that tarp so we wouldn't get wet."

She got up and turned around, obviously leaving to fetch something. And then he noticed her hair: a bright shade of pink.

"SASUKE-TEME!"

The Panther jumped and looked at the window, just as the girl turned around in surprise and nearly dropped her basin. Sitting in the window, soaking wet, but grinning, was a blond youth dressed in black and orange.

"Saw you falling, but I was tied up at the moment. Only just got free. Get it? But did you hear? Kisame got to your base – totally destroyed it! The Panther's Lair was going up in smoke when I dashed back there to check. Sorry, I knew I should have come and made sure you were OK, but after what that Hidan fellow said while he was tying me up, I thought I should go back to the Panther's Lair and salvage what I could," the boy babbled. "And…wow, you're looking pretty beat-up, Sasuke!"

"You IDIOT, Naruto!" Sasuke roared, getting off the couch. "I could have kept my cover! Erased her memories! And just now you came in and ruined it ALL!"

The pink-haired girl was looking from the black-haired, black-clothed man who she had just been treating, and the blonde kid wearing black and orange in her window.

"Well, SOR-RY, Mr. I'm-so-independent-I-don't-need-the-Ninetails-to-back-me-up-and-save-my-stuff-when-my-base-gets-blown-out," Naruto sniffed. The girl looked from one to the other, the puzzle being pieced together in her jade eyes.

"Wait a moment- you're…"

"Yeah, he's the BLACK PANTHER, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered, noticing her for the first time. Sasuke growled at him.

"You DOBE! Stop giving us away! Kuso, it's too late NOW!"

The girl looked again from Sasuke to Naruto. Sasuke wished she'd stop doing that.

"Oh my gosh…you're the Black Panther?! And you're" –she turned to Naruto- "the Ninetails?!"

Sasuke glared at her.

"Thanks, Naruto. Now a civilian knows who we are. AND you went and gave away our real names, too. Smart, dobe, REAL smart."

"Hark who's talking!" Naruto said indignantly. "YOU were the one who called me Naruto!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did!"

"No, I did- AAARGH!"

Sasuke bent double, clutching the wound in his side. The girl was by him in an instant.

"Lie down and hold still, let me take a look." The wound was bad: it was bleeding right through Sasuke's bodysuit. The young woman looked up at Naruto.

"Does he have anything else he can change into?"

Naruto looked surprised. "Sure, I brought a few of his clothes…"

The girl nodded at a door. "Take him in there and get him changed. I need to be able to get at that wound."

Naruto looped an arm under Sasuke's shoulder and got him into the room the girl had pointed at. He shut the door, sending the two into darkness. This room had no windows.

"Come on, Sasuke, help me out," Naruto said, trying to help his friend. Between them, Sasuke struggled out of his Black Panther suit. Naruto looked around the room while Sasuke changed.

"Hey, nice bedroom, dattebayo!" He walked over to the dresser. "Look, she's got pictures of her friends! Hey, that one with short black hair is really cute!"

"Naruto, could you PLEASE stop talking in exclamation points for a minute and help me?" Sasuke grimaced through clenched teeth. He was shirtless, and that wound was looking pretty bad- it looked like glass had gotten stuck in it after Hidan had slashed him with the scythe and then kicked him out the window.

Sasuke and Naruto reemerged from the darkened bedroom to find that the girl who was their host was assembling a number of tools, the least of which were a pick and tweezers.

"OK, now get him to lie down," she said, as Naruto eased Sasuke onto the couch. The girl looked Sasuke right in the face.

"I'm a medical student, I know what I'm doing. Do you trust me?"

Sasuke nodded.

"OK, then, this is gonna hurt a bit," the girl warned. She bent over the slash in his side and winced.

"Ouch, what took a chunk out of you? There's glass stuck in it, too…it'll get dirty if I don't treat it right away."

"Then treat it, woman!" Sasuke bellowed, gripping Naruto's hand in a vise-like grip as the girl began to extract the glass from his wound.

The miniature operation took the upside of a full hour. Then the girl ran her hands over Sasuke's torso, checking to make sure that his fall hadn't broken any bones.

"Are you made of steel or something?" she asked, finishing her examination and washing her hands in the sink. "You didn't break a thing! The only problem was that wound!"

"Our Sasuke's tougher than iron!" Naruto boasted. Sasuke glared at him.

"I said SHUT UP, Naruto!"

The girl re-entered the room, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. "Alright, you need to get some sleep. No, no, stay there," she said, as Sasuke made to get off the couch. "You don't need to move just yet. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me." She looked at Naruto, then left the room, tactfully shutting the door behind her. It was clear that she knew that they wanted some private time alone.

"Well, Naruto?" Sasuke demanded as soon as the door closed on the pink-haired girl's back. "_Why did you give away the whole game??!!?!?!_"

Naruto smiled ruefully and waved a hand. "Hey, hey, she looks trustworthy, right?"

Sasuke grabbed the front of his jacket, balling it into his fist. "That has NOTHING to do with it, you idiot!!!"

"Shouldn't you be worrying about your base?" Naruto said hastily as Sasuke's fist came upright. "I mean, they blew it away!"

"Who's 'they'?" Sasuke demanded. Naruto gulped, relieved to have gotten out of danger for the moment.

"Didn't you hear? There's been another villains' alliance! Hidan, Kazu, and Kisame are now all a part of this arch-villain organization called 'Akatsuki'. They were the ones who ordered the destruction of the Panther's Lair. Shouldn't we be worried about them, instead."

Sasuke considered. "Hnn. Maybe you're right."

Naruto yelped as Sasuke's fist connected with his face. He flew across the room, landing spread-eagled on the floor. His nose was rapidly turning red.

"Outh, that HURT, dattebayo!"

Sasuke wasn't listening. He went over to stand by the window, still shirtless. He was wearing black Russian-style pants that billowed and flowed around his body. His eyes narrowed. So the villains had formed yet another organization against him, had they?

"Does the White Fang know about this?" he demanded of Naruto, who was gingerly prodding his swollen nose. Naruto looked up in surprise.

"That'th the other thing." He winced as tears came to his eyes. "Ow, Thathkay, you pack a hard punth!"

"What about the White Fang?" Sasuke said, turning sharply from the window. Naruto winced again.

"He'th dead."

"DEAD?! Who killed him?"

Naruto closed up. Sasuke took a step closer to him.

"Naruto, _who killed the White Fang?!?!_"

"Itathi." Naruto's reply was quiet, and yet it rang around the small space.

"Itachi?" Sasuke repeated, even more softly. Naruto scrambled back against the wall.

"Uh-oh…"

"ITACHII!" Sasuke bellowed. With one motion, he hoisted the entire couch above his head!

The door opened and the pink haired girl stuck her head back in.

"What's going on in here?" She stopped at the sight of a shirtless Sasuke hoisting a couch above his head. "What are you doing with my furniture?" she asked suspiciously. Sasuke's rage cooled. He sheepishly lowered the couch back to where it belonged. The girl then noticed Naruto's nose.

"Oh my gosh! What happened to you?"

"He hit me," Naruto said ruefully. The girl shot Sasuke a meaningful glance before disappearing into the kitchen and reappearing with a bag of ice.

"This makes two superheroes I've treated today. Why on earth can't you be civil to each other?"

Naruto gratefully applied the home remedy to his nose. Sasuke crossed his arms and continued to stare out the window.

"Can we use your apartment?"

The question was so unexpected that the girl was taken aback. "Uh…I'm sorry?"

"Your apartment," Sasuke said impatiently. "It's got a good strategic position, being so high up in the building. You're also ideally located in Konoha City. Can we use it as a base?"

The girl was silent for a moment. Then she spoke. "You aren't going to erase my memories?"

Sasuke turned around and gestured at the gash in his side. "After this?"

Naruto smiled from the corner. "He juth wantth a perthonal healer, …"

"Oh, I'm Sakura!" the girl said cheerfully. "Sakura Haruno!"

"Well, then, Thakura," Naruto said, testing his nose, "Thathkay wantth you to keep your memorieth tho that if he needth a doctor, you're right here."

"Well, I AM a doctor-in-training," Sakura said cheerfully. "I'm not here all the time, I do have to go to classes and surgeries and stuff. I guess you can use it…but I'll need my private space."

"We'll only use this room," Sasuke assured her. "But it's going to look a LOT different when we're done with it."

"Only if you fix the roof first." Sakura stuck out a hand to confirm the deal. Sasuke smirked and took it.

"Deal."

"Wow," Sakura said, looking at both of them. "My life was simple up until today, and then the Black Panther fell through my ceiling! So I guess I'm boarding the Black Panther and the Ninetails, now."

"Call me Naruto," Naruto said, sticking out his hand. Sakura took it warmly. "That bastard over there's Sasuke-teme," Naruto said. "He's a little moody, but it's only to be expected of the Black Panther. Well, let's get started! What's for dinner?"

"Um…I was going to go out for dinner tonight," Sakura said nervously. Naruto perked up.

"Really? You have a boyfriend?"

"N-no. I don't, I just allow myself one meal at a restaurant a week. But showing up with two, well…_good-looking_ guys in tow…"

Sakura was plainly embarrassed. Naruto winked at her.

"We could make it just you and me, and leave the teme here to mope on his own."

"No, Naruto," Sasuke said from over by the window, where he stood with his back turned to them and his arms crossed. "I need you to help me set up my stuff."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, looking sadly at her. "It woulda been fun."

"Yeah, I guess…" Sakura looked relieved. "Well, I'll leave you guys to your work, get out of the way. There's instant ramen in the cupboard, if you want it." Naruto perked up. "I'll be back around 9:00 tonight."

"We'll be done by then," Sasuke said confidently. Naruto looked at him.

"Are you sure?"

Sasuke shot him a devilish glare. "Quite."

And that was how Sakura Haruno ended up with two superheroes, the Black Panther and the Ninetails, housed under her roof.


	2. The Black Panther's Power

**Yosh! I hope I can make this story live up to your expectations! Enjoy chapter two of _The Black Panther_!**

When Sakura returned from her dinner, her living room had been completely disassembled by the Black Panther and the Ninetails. The carpet had been torn up and was now lying rolled up in the corner. Shiny silver consoles and strange racks were everywhere. It looked as though someone had taken the time to rip out the paneling and install steel plates into the walls. Naruto was sitting in front of the largest computer console, typing as fast as he could into the green screen. Sasuke didn't seem to be in the room. Sakura looked around, confused, until she glanced up at the ceiling. Sasuke was there, anchored to the surface, almost like a gecko. At first, Sakura thought he was up there of his own accord, but then she noticed the piton and cord hanging from the belt around his waist. It was Sasuke's perfect balance that was making it seem as if he was anchoring himself to the ceiling.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, turning around in his swivel chair. "Long time no see!"

"Dobe, it was only three hours," Sasuke said, pulling a nail out of his mouth. With one hand, he hooked a hammer out of his belt and began tapping the nail into the ceiling. Sakura thought he was still repairing her ceiling, but then she saw the shining silver wire he had looped about the nail. After cocking his head to one side to see how it looked, Sasuke tapped a button on his belt, backflipped, and landed upright on her living room floor, right in front of her. Sakura couldn't help it - she gasped in surprise. Sasuke ignored it.

"Have you got any duct tape?"

Sakura looked up at his handsome face and nodded. "Yeah, it's in the kitchen. Why?"

"Dobe over there" –Sasuke thumbed over his shoulder- "couldn't find it."

"Hey, teme, I'm programming your master unit!" Naruto yelled. "You should show a little gratitude! I'm not your slave, you know! I have half a mind to make this thing-"

"Naruto, what have I said about speaking in all exclamation points?!" Sasuke growled. Sakura decided to intervene before Naruto got punched in somewhere more painful than his nose.

"Sasuke, come with me, I'll get your tape," she said, heading for the kitchen. Sasuke followed her.

Sakura's flat was a tiny three-room thing. The largest room was the living room, which had been taken over by the two superheroes now rooming with her. Sakura's private bedroom was off the living room, meaning she'd have to naviagate through their maze of wires and gadgets to get at the room. The kitchen was the smallest room, holding only enough space for Sakura's appliances, a small table, and now, three chairs. Needless to say, it was a bit of a squeeze.

"OK, I think it's in here," Sakura said, rummaging through her odds and ends drawer. "Yup, here you go!"

She held up the roll of duct tape and passed it to Sasuke, who looped it over his hand like a bracelet. In the exchange, their hands brushed: Sakura immediately blushed. Sasuke, however, turned around and made his way out of the room.

"Hey, dobe, make sure that thing is connected to the ANBU mainframe."

"Teme, teme, what do you think I've been doing for the past hour and a half, dattebayo!"

"You've been working for the past hour and a half on that one connection?! Why can't you hook up?"

"They changed the password!"

"Then go hacking!"

"I can't just do that!"

"Hnn. I still don't see how you and I get paired together by ANBU, and you're supposed to be this incredible computer tech support guy," Sasuke muttered. Naruto actually turned in his seat.

"Sasuke, you know very well why ANBU partnered us together. You're part of an alliance, now shut up and work for the greater good!"

"Hnn. I thought that was MY line," Sasuke retorted, shooting the piton on his belt back into the ceiling. He winched himself up and continued his work, now with duct tape as well. Sakura leaned against the doorframe, smiling at the antics of the two who had taken over her apartment. Honestly, they were supposed to be superheroes, but sometimes, they acted like little kids.

"Have you guys eaten anything?" she asked abruptly. Sasuke had a screwdriver in his teeth, so he couldn't speak. Naruto, however, couldn't seal his jaw.

"Yeah, I sampled all your instant ramens. The beef was wicked good, the chicken needed salt. The teriyaki…"

"How about Sasuke?" Sakura interrupted. Naruto shook his head.

"He didn't touch a thing, not that I saw. And I'm still hungry. Why?"

"Does ginger pork sound good to you guys? I can have it ready in forty-five minutes," Sakura said. Naruto literally began to drool.

"YEAH, Sakura-chan!"

"Hnn. As long as it's edible."

Sakura glared at the raven-haired young man hanging from her ceiling before storming off to the kitchen. Naruto shook his head.

"Geez, Sasuke-teme, you ARE tactless."

"What? I don't want to eat something that'll kill me," Sasuke said calmly and rationally. Naruto snorted.

"Come on, that's not the best way to win her heart!"

Sasuke actually laughed. "Why on earth would I want to win her heart, Naruto?"

Naruto pretended to think. "Let's see…maybe because she's CUTE, she's SMART, she's NICE, and she SAVED YOUR LIFE?!"

Sasuke looked down from his spot on the ceiling. "Naruto, she's bound to be smart, she's a medical student. I won't deny that she saved my life by cleaning out that wound Hidan gave me. She's relatively nice, I suppose."

"You SUPPOSE!?!?" Naruto snorted. "She's letting us use her home as a base!"

"As for cute," Sasuke said, talking over Naruto, "I think she's attractive, but not enough to please me."

"Hah, the Picky Panther!" Naruto mocked. "What, you want a supermodel to swoon in front of you and beg you to use her five-star mansion as a base?!"

"It's hotels that are five-star, not houses," Sasuke said. "And no, you're over-exaggerating what I said." He detached himself from the piton once more and landed gracefully on the ground. "I'm just not the romantic type. Get that through your thick head."

Naruto grinned. "I'm sure one day you'll show amazing romantic tendencies heretofore unexpected."

"What was that?" Sasuke asked dangerously, now fingering the hammer strapped to his belt. Naruto turned around hastily.

"Oh, nothing!"

Soon, the smell of roasting pork filled the tiny flat. Naruto's stomach was making audible growls, and even Sasuke had to admit that the aroma was making him hungry.

"Pork's ready!" Sakura said, coming into the living room with her oven mitts on. Sasuke finished securing a wire and headed for the kitchen, proceeded by an excited Naruto.

"Gosh, dattebayo, this looks good, Sakura," he squeaked. Sakura smiled.

"Itadakimasu!"

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"Geez, that was good," Naruto said, resting a hand on his stomach. "I'm getting tired now, what about you, Sasuke?"

The black-haired youth did not respond.

"Where are you guys planning to sleep?" Sakura asked. Sasuke jerked his head at the dim living room, which was lit only by flickering LEDs and strange monitors.

"In there."

"Do you need blankets or anything?"

"We're set, dattebayo!"

"Alright, well, I'm going to turn in," Sakura said, placing her plate in the sink. "The bathroom is right off the kitchen, and the second door in there leads into my bedroom. I'm going to keep it locked."

"Good idea," Naruto said with a straight face. "Otherwise, Sasuke-teme might get confused and end up sleeping in your bed!"

Sakura blushed. Sasuke crossed his arms and glared at Naruto.

"It's not FUNNY, Ninetails!"

"Oh, I forgot to ask – what are your powers?" Sakura said, clearing the boy's places and getting up to do the dishes. Naruto leaned on the table.

"Well, I'm the Ninetails. I've, well…got a demon sealed inside me."

Sakura nearly dropped her plate. "A DEMON?!!?"

"Yeah," Naruto said apologetically. "But it can really get out of control sometimes. That's why I'm not a huge superhero, I can get really dangerous. I just help teme here out."

"And what are Sasuke's powers?" Sakura asked, rinsing off a plate. Sasuke stood up abruptly.

"I'm going back to work."

Sakura and Naruto watched as the Black Panther disappeared back into his new lair.

"He's like that a lot," Naruto apologized.

"Go on," Sakura said.

"Well, teme is the Black Panther, as you already know. He's, well, for lack of a better description: a ninja with superpowers. We're both different from most superheroes: a lot of them get their powers from kryptonite or radioactivity or spiders or whatever. But Sasuke's almost a born ninja: and he's got excellent chakra control."

"What's chakra?"

Naruto grimaced. "You don't know what chakra is?! It's like a mixture of spiritual and physical energy, very difficult for some people to use. For Sasuke it comes naturally, that's why he's so strong, see?"

Sakura's mind flickered back to an image of Sasuke holding her living room couch over his head.

"Yeah…"

"And he's got this psychic thing going, too," Naruto continued, waving his arms. "Something to do with his eyes. If Sasuke develops his powers enough, he'll gain a sort of hypnotic power. It's complicated, even the people back at ANBU don't really understand it. All it really means is that Sasuke has the potential for psychic powers."

"So what does Sasuke use his chakra to do?" Sakura asked, drying the dishes.

"If he uses it the right way and channels the chakra, he can use his sword in phenomenal ways," Naruto said solemnly. "He can create an electric current around himself and the sword just by touching it using his chakra. He can also create lightning balls around his fist made of condensed chakra. The other thing Sasuke can do is make massive fireballs. And that's about it."

"Don't you have chakra?"

"I do, but I can't use it. If I do, I risk awakening the demon," Naruto said, patting his stomach. "I can create chakra balls too, but mine are like wind spheres." Sakura nodded, even though she didn't really understand. "I can also replicate myself a million times – a skill that's come in handy more than once," Naruto assured her.

"You should have made a replica and sent it to work with me, 'cause I'm gonna come in there and kick your butt, demon-possessed or not," Sasuke's voice came from the living room. "Get in here and finish programming the stupid computer."

"I'm COMING, teme! Geez, can't a guy relax after a meal?" Naruto called, getting out of his seat. "Sorry, Sakura-chan. Looks like I'm going back to work."

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Sakura lay awake long into the night, thinking about what Naruto had said to her. The Black Panther and the Ninetails – they were only two of the superheroes she had ever heard of. The White Fang, the Scarecrow, Bugboy, Caged Bird, Green Beast… were they all like this?

Naruto seemed like a normal enough guy. He wouldn't have been a superhero if it hadn't been for the demon he was sealed with. And Sasuke…well, Sakura hadn't heard enough from him to know whether or not he was even normal. Sasuke seemed to have been brought up to this kind of life.

Who were the people she'd invited to stay under her roof?

**Hmm...I think I'm getting ideas for a plot for this one...slowly but surely. I like this story and where it's going! CHWAH Read and review!**


	3. A New Mission!

**Just wondering...is this story even partially belivable? I mean, can anyone else see Sasuke and Naruto as superheroes? Alright, I'll shut up. Enjoy chapter 3! **

"Yosh, Sasuke-teme!" Naruto cried the next morning. "I've got us hooked up! Oh, wait…I thought I did…"

Sakura picked up her hot cup and headed for the door. "I'm off to school. See you."

She was almost to the door when something black stopped her. Sakura gasped as she was forcefully spun around and slammed back against the door. Not a drop spilled from her coffee cup. All Sakura could see was black. There were two arms on either side of her neck, pinning her there…

Then Sasuke leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"If you say ANYTHING about the Black Panther OR the Ninetails staying in your apartment…"

Sakura could just imagine him reaching for that chokoto of his. She gulped.

"I won't say a thing, I swear!"

Sasuke stepped back, probing her with his deep black gaze. "We'll be watching you."

Sakura was still trembling as he returned to the living room. Today, Sasuke was wearing those same black flowing Russian-style pants and an open, black robe-like shirt to match (a/n: think of the shirt he wears in Shippuden, in black).

"Hey, teme, we're connected!" she heard Naruto cheer as she stepped out into the hall, locked the door, and proceeded to the elevator.

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Sasuke stood over Naruto as he sat in the chair, typing furiously. Both of them stared at the neon-green screen that connected them to the rest of ANBU.

"Tell them we're alright," Sasuke ordered, gesturing at the keyboard. "Let them know we've got a base that we're operating out of. Kisame can destroy the Panther's Lair, but Akatsuki can't take down the Black Panther," he added as an afterthought. Naruto speedily typed in his message.

"Hey, Sasuke-teme, I think we got a mission while we were away!"

Sasuke bent over the console. "No, dobe, it just says, 'Mission Failed'."

"Failed?" Naruto said. "You FAILED a mission? That has to be a first…"

Sasuke ignored him. "Get me the latest updates on Akatsuki. I want everything ANBU's got on Itachi…both what we have access to and what's classified."

Naruto grinned ferally. "Righto."

A few seconds later, Sasuke was staring at the insides of ANBU's top secret files, thanks to Naruto's hacking skills. He browsed through the information.

"Itachi joined them a month ago?"

Naruto stared at his partner. "Sasuke, you're not thinking of going AFTER the bastard, are you?!"

Sasuke once more answered him with silence. He addressed a question, however, to the screen. "Computer, give me Itachi's current coordinates."

The computer hummed, then a female voice came from the speakers.

"Sorry, Master Sasuke. There is no knowledge of Itachi's current position."

Sasuke swore audibly, bringing his fist down on the smooth desktop. "Chikuso!"

Naruto, meanwhile, was back in the mainframe, looking up their next mission. "Hey, teme, even though you failed the Akatsuki mission, you still get a high-ranking one," he said. "Looks like our next job is to stake out the Snake Lord's Tower."

Sasuke grinned. "Excellent. When do we start?"

"Well, first we're supposed to establish a network that will let us know if there's been any small crime in the new area we're in," Naruto said, typing once again.

"How do we do that?" Sasuke interrupted. "Kuso, this is why I hate working in the city. Too much small violence going around, I don't have TIME to solve somebody's lost wristwatch case…"

"Not that," Naruto said, drawing up another window. "There's something else. I went into the Konoha City police files and found several unsolved murders in our general area. That's the kind of thing we clean up, just to make a good impression on everybody. Oh, yeah – we're not the only supers in Konoha City."

"How do you know?" Sasuke asked. Naruto went back to his ANBU database window. There, in light green lines on the screen, was a glowing map of Konoha city. Several gently blipping blue dot was sending blue waves out in a circle all around them.

"Each of those points represents the area another ANBU-registered super is working in," Naruto said, pointing them out. "See, someone's covering the area to the west of us, and there's also someone to the north. In fact, Sasuke, it looks like we picked the perfect place to land. There's no ANBU super in this district!"

Sasuke stood up and turned to the window. "Just register us, Naruto. I want to be up and running by this afternoon."

"Hey, cool off, teme," Naruto said, grinning. "We're set to go. Let's see…local crimes in our area…does a murder or a robbery suit your fancy?"

"Let's go with murder," Sasuke said coolly. He'd had too much experience with robbery in the past day. Naruto nodded and began scrolling down.

"Aha, here's one for ya! The murder of a man named Sarutobi, a senior, and…ooh, Sasuke, you might wanna take a look at this." Naruto squinted closer at the screen. "It says that…but that can't be right!"

"What?"

Naruto turned over his shoulder to look at his partner, gesturing at the screen. "This says that he was a retired superhero!"

"WHAT?!" Sasuke was at his side in an instant, bending over the mouse and keyboard. He scrolled down, black eyes intent on the words filling the screen.

"Sarutobi, retired senior and former superhero, was found dead at his 407 Yondaime Road apartment. After an autopsy, police determined that the cause of death was a combination of various thrusts from a weapon to the abdomen and fatigue," Naruto read. "Killer unknown. No related murders suspected."

"Who was this Sarutobi?" Sasuke demanded. "Why haven't I heard of him?"

Naruto ran a quick search and laughed. "Ha, there's a reason you haven't, Sasuke. He was a tad better at concealing his true identity than either you or me. That's why he was murdered in old age, see? Sarutobi was the famous 'Jumping Monkey'!"

"The Jumping Monkey…" Sasuke had indeed heard of the superhero. The Jumping Monkey belonged to an era long before his own. The late White Fang had been at the tail end of that generation of supers.

"'Neighbors reported that several walls had collapsed, and a huge hole torn out of the wall of the apartment'," Naruto continued reading. "'Everything within the apartment was destroyed. The cause of the blast is thought to have been a gas leak.' Gas leak, my face! There's no way that's a gas leak."

"What?"

Naruto showed him. "Look, they took photos for evidence."

The building was a huge red brick thing, solid as a rock. It would survive a tornado, Sasuke thought, but not one that began inside it. It indeed looked like a tornado had been birthed inside it: a huge chunk of the wall had been ripped away, exposing the ruined apartments inside. Rubble and shattered glass littered both the floor of the exposed apartment and the street.

"Why hasn't ANBU investigated this?" Sasuke demanded. "This was a superhero!"

"Sarutobi wasn't registered with ANBU," Naruto replied. "Besides, he had kept his alter-ego such a secret that ANBU must have figured that it was better not to make a big scene out of it."

"What did he want?" Sasuke muttered.

"Pardon?"

"The killer. It looks like Sarutobi put up a real fight. The killer must have wanted _something_."

"Well, we could investigate, if you want," Naruto offered. Sasuke stood up, thinking again.

"What's our official mission?"

Naruto checked again.

"We're supposed to stake out and survey the Snake Lord's tower and monitor what he's doing."

"OK, then. That can wait – we'll deal with this murder first," Sasuke decided. "Now see if you can find information on the Jumping Monkey."

And so the Ninetails and the Black Panther set about solving the death of a superhero of an era before their time.

**OK, guys! I think I have a solution! Since I'm blocked on NSTM right now, I'm gonna work on this one. This story just seems like fun to write! Imagining SASUKE and NARUTO as superheroes! -squealz- And I'm getting plot ideas as I go…it's great! So I'm switching to this one. Sorry, NSTM lovers, but the Black Panther has gotten to me! CHWAH!**


	4. Attack and Defense

**Wow, four chapters and eighteen reviews! I feel loved! Thank you to all my readers who told me they loved this story! **

"Dobe, did you remember to pack the infrared transmitters?" Sasuke asked for the fourth time. Naruto snorted.

"I'm not that stupid, teme. I remember what happened the first time I forgot those."

"Yeah, that was the FIRST time," Sasuke pointed out. "Did you forget all the REST of the times you forgot them?"

Sasuke and Naruto were choosing things to place in a rucksack from the assortment scattered around the room. Naruto picked up a strange-looking weapon, stared at it quizzically, then chucked it over his shoulder.

"What are you taking, Sasuke-teme?"

Sasuke straightened up. "I've got a transportable computer, a wireless headset, earpiece, and my chokoto. That's all I need."

Sasuke was decked out in a black long-sleeve bodysuit that fit his body (a/n: NOT SPANDEX! Sorry…), with a crossbelt slung over one shoulder. A sheath hung at a diagonal angle across his back, the famed chokoto. His hands and forearms were sheathed with (you guessed it!) black armguards. He held something black loosely in one hand. His black calf-length boots made a clicking sound on the stripped floor.

There was a knock, a click as a key turned, and the door to the apartment opened.

"Ohayo, I'm back!" Sakura said cheerily, coming in with her backpack over one shoulder. "Hey, Naruto-san, Sasuke-san!" She stopped at the sight of the two. Like Sasuke, Naruto was also in his gear: a black pair of pants and an orange-and black long-sleeve top(a/n: basically, his Shippuden get-up). He looked kind of like a tiger.

"Why isn't your name 'The Tiger'?" Sakura asked, after studying him for a minute. "You look like one."

"He's not sealed with a tiger demon, he's sealed with a fox." Sasuke spoke, hoisting a pack onto his shoulder. Naruto quickly copied him, heading for the door. Sakura stood against the door to hold it open as Naruto brushed past her, heading for the hall. Sasuke stood in the doorway, fixing something over his face. When he looked up, Sakura recognized the half-mask that the Black Panther wore.

The bottom half of Sasuke's face, the nose and lips, were fully exposed. But from there, the black mask covered his face, up to the forehead. The mask was basically just a thick strip of cloth that bound around his forehead and covered his eyes. But where there should have been eyeholes, Sasuke's mask had red patches (think Spidey, only red and possessed-looking). It was like looking into the face of a demon. Sakura shivered.

The Black Panther also brushed past Sakura to get to the hall. He stopped in the threshold and put out an arm, blocking Sakura's path into the apartment.

"We'll be back late," the Black Panther said softly, looking directly at her. Sakura couldn't meet his eyes, he was so…frightening. She swallowed.

"Right."

"Don't wait for us, Sakura. And take care of yourself."

And with that, the Black Panther joined the Ninetails in the waiting elevator. The Ninetails waved a hand at her as the elevator doors slid shut, but the Panther remained motionless. Sakura watched the numbers over the door: 'R' lit up. So they were planning on leaving from the roof…

Sakura raced inside and stuck her head out the window, but she was too late. There was no sign of either of the superheroes.

_Maybe they left off the other side of the building,_ Sakura thought. _Oh, well. I have studying to do._

Sakura settled down, glad to have her apartment for her own once again. But it seemed incredibly quiet without Naruto's constant talking and Sasuke's solid presence.

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The Black Panther and the Ninetails flew through the city, moving swiftly for the place where their trail began.

"_Teme, how much further_?" Naruto's voice scratched over the wireless. Sasuke put the receiver to his lips.

"Not too much longer. Remember – our goal is not to be seen or interrupted. Let's go."

The superheroes landed gracefully in a gaping hole in the long block of buildings. The place where Sarutobi's apartment building had been was like a missing tooth: it stood out. There was rubble and twisted steel everywhere; it looked like someone had demolished the building but not bothered to clean up the mess. Naruto prodded a chunk of brickwork and mortar with his foot.

"Why didn't they clear this rubble away and build something new here?"

Sasuke crouched low, sifting the dirt with his fingertips. "I don't know, dobe. That's what we're trying to find out. Now start searching."

"For what?"

"Hnn, are you really this stupid? Clues, evidence, something to give us a lead," Sasuke said. He stood up and laid a hand on the hilt of his chokoto. "Of course, I can always give you an extra incentive…"

"Ah, no, that's OK," Naruto said hastily, before turning and trotting away through the rubble till he was a safe distance away.

Sasuke crouched back down and examined the dirt once more. It sparkled and glittered in the moonlight, no doubt from powdered glass that had been ground up in the demolition. There could be evidence in this dustheap, the trouble was, he had no idea if it was from Sarutobi's apartment or not. There was very little chance that he would actually find something, but the Black Panther was not very good at giving up. He was straightening to move to a new spot when…

"_Hey, teme!_" Naruto squawked over the wireless. "_Get over here, I think I found something!_"

At the same second, two black figures leapt over the moon, silhouetted against its brightness. Sasuke tapped the receiver as he drew his chokoto.

"Naruto, we've got company!"

"_What?!_"

Sasuke swung at the first assailant as he landed, forcing the man to duck and loose his balance. Quick as a flash, the Black Panther whipped around and parried the stroke of his katana-bearing opponent. The first man leapt back up, ready to charge. Both of them wore black clothes and full ninja masks, Sasuke noted. Neither of them wanted to be identified.

_CLANG! WHIRRCLASH!_

The sound of metal grating on metal echoed off the brick buildings around them. The Black Panther held his own with ease, but was wary. Were these two hiding any unnatural powers? He jabbed, and the blade gashed the side of one of his opponents. The man gasped, staggered back, and disappeared in a puff of smoke!

**A clone?** Sasuke thought, now facing his other opponent. It was time for something serious: if someone was watching, they were going to see what they were up against. Sasuke dropped his chokoto and went through several handsigns. He bowed, almost as if in defeat. The remaining enemy yelled in triumph and charged. The Black Panther's head came up.

"CHIDORI!"

_FzzztcracklecrackleBAM!_

The Panther kicked the dead man off his fist, emotionlessly using his opponent's clothing to wipe off the blood that now covered it. The blue electric flames finished dying as the Ninetails came hurrying up.

"Are you OK, dattebayo?"

"I'm fine. These two didn't land a scratch on me, which is why I'm worried."

Naruto stared at the dead body. "Why did you kill him?" As if in answer, the body disappeared in a puff of purple smoke. Sasuke finished cleaning his hand carelessly.

"Because it was a clone."

"So the REAL guy is still hiding somewhere?" Naruto breathed. "Where?"

The Panther brushed past him. "'Where' doesn't concern us. Show me what you found." He turned around as the Ninetails continued to stare at the place where the body had vanished. "Ninetails, get a grip! You've seen me kill hundreds of your own clones!"

"But there was someone out there trying to kill us, dattebayo," Naruto gulped. Sasuke sighed.

"You're a SUPERHERO, Naruto. There ARE archvillains out there, you know. I'm sure at least one of them is trying to kill me."

"I just thought of something," Naruto said, going pale. "What if…what if that guy sent clones to Sakura-chan's apartment?!"

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Sakura leapt up as the door burst open. The Ninetails and the Black Panther emerged, both drawing weapons. She made to get up, but they forced her down. Her hands were roughly forced behind the chair and tied there with a piece of rope.

"Stay where you are!" the Ninetails barked. "We're going to make sure you're the REAL Sakura." Sakura gasped as she felt the cold barrel of a gun placed to her forehead.

The Black Panther prowled into the living room, into the bedroom, and through the kitchen, tearing up every single hiding place there could possibly be. Sakura gulped.

"Guys, it's just me-"

"Don't talk or you're dead," the Ninetails said threateningly, shoving the barrel harder into Sakura's temple. The Panther reemerged from the living room. It may have been Sakura's imagination, but she thought she saw him tucking something into his belt. He nodded at Sakura.

"She's not the real one. Kill her."

"STOP RIGHT THERE, dattebayo!"

The Black Panther and Ninetails turned in syncronation. Sakura gasped as she saw yet ANOTHER Ninetails perched on her windowsill!

"Move and you're dead," a calmer but more lethal voice said from the doorway. Sakura could not turn her head, but she could picture in her mind's eye the tip of the REAL Black Panther's chokoto tickling the back of the fake Ninetails' neck.

With a poof, the men who had searched her apartment disappeared!

Naruto leapt down from the windowsill, coming into the room. "Thank goodness you're alright, Sakura-chan! I mean-"

Sasuke cut him off. "Hold it right there. We need to check if she's the REAL Sakura."

Naruto looked at him quizzically. "Why?"

"Didn't you see, dobe? Someone got in here impersonating US! For all we know, this Sakura could be a clone, too," the Panther said. He lifted Sakura's chin with the chokoto tip. Her jade gaze met his dark one.

"If you are the real Sakura, you can tell me what you made us for dinner last night," Sasuke said. Sakura gulped, feeling her throat scrape against the sharp killing tip of the chokoto.

"Ginger pork," she gasped. Sasuke withdrew his chokoto, sheathing it over his shoulder.

"She's the real one, Naruto."

"Geez, what did they do to the place, dattebayo?" Naruto asked, looking around. Sakura struggled against the rope that still bound her hands.

"They were after something – they ransacked the place on the pretense that they were making sure I was the real Sakura." She ground her teeth as the rope burned into her skin. "Hey, can I have a little help?"

Naruto pulled a knife from the pouch at his side and went to cut the rope, but a flash of steel beat him to it. Sakura rubbed her wrist ruefully as Sasuke sheathed his chokoto once again.

"You nicked me!" Sure enough, there was a small cut on Sakura's wrist. Sasuke looked it over emotionlessly.

"Hnn. Small price to pay for your life."

"Sakura-chan, did you see what they took?" Naruto said, turning and going into the living room. Sakura shook her head.

"They disappeared, dobe, they couldn't take anything," Sasuke pointed out. "Whatever they tried to take is still here."

"What worries me the most is how they found my apartment," Sakura said, following the two superheroes into their base. "I mean, does that mean a villain's already found your new base?"

"Could be," Naruto said.

"Hnn. It doesn't matter how they got here, they're gone. They'll never be able to report to their maker," Sasuke said. "Those clones had their own free will: did you see how they transformed themselves into the Ninetails and the Black Panther? No, those clones had minds of their own, and they cancelled themselves out rather than betray their information."

"Oh! Sasuke! There's blood on your shirt!" Sakura exclaimed. Sasuke looked down.

"Figures. He fought off two clones over at the place we were investigating," Naruto said.

"Right, but those clones were different," Sasuke grimaced. "There are two types of clones: freewill and puppet. A puppet clone is controlled directly by the maker, like the two that attacked us were. In other words, the maker of the clones saw everything we did through the eyes of his clones. The clones that came here, however, were freewill clones. The master gave them orders, but they had to find this base and come up with a plan themselves, without their master's control."

"Wow, teme, that was probably the most you've ever said!" Naruto said, grinning. "Getting talkative around a certain someone, eh?"

Sasuke glared at him. "If she's going to protect herself, she's got to know the difference between the two types. A freewill clone has to physically return to its master to report information. A puppet clone is directly linked to the master: they see through the clone."

"What's the difference?" Sakura asked.

"Freewill clones generally take on different appearances so you aren't suspicious," Naruto affirmed. "Puppet clones just stay in their maker's form. For example:"

Sakura gasped as there was a puff of orange smoke and two identical Narutos appeared next to the original!

"This one" – Naruto gestured to the one on the left- "is a puppet clone. Completely like me, and I can see you through it." He closed his eyes, but left the puppet clone's eyes open.

"Hold up some fingers." Sakura held up her pointer, middle, and ring fingers.

"You're showing me three," Naruto grinned, opening his own eyes. "My mind is directly connected to that of the puppet clone. The freewill clone, on the other hand…"

Sakura gasped as she felt cold steel scrape her throat yet again. A hand tucked under her chin and tilted her head back, the other arm wrapped around her shoulder, still holding the kunai against her throat. She looked not into the face of Naruto, but into the cold face of the Black Panther. His raven-black wings of hair fell on either side of her face, and they were so close they were breathing the same air …

"…dies like any other," Sasuke said. He suddenly materialized next to the frozen Sakura and the imitation of himself. His chokoto flicked and the fake Panther burst into orange smoke.

"I ordered it to sneak up on you," Naruto grinned. "The freewill clone came up with the plan to transform into the teme all by itself. That's the difference."

Sakura rubbed her throat, her heart still pounding from being so close to Sasuke's handsome face, even if it wasn't really his…

"Hey, teme, maybe we should teach Sakura-chan to recognize the difference between clones, so she can defend herself against them if they ever come again," Naruto suggested. Sasuke stared at Sakura, apparently lost in thought.

"Hnn."

"She could defend the base while we're away!" Naruto argued. "We wouldn't have to worry about her…come on, Sasuke-teme, it's the best idea ever?"

"It _is_ good," Sasuke admitted. "But is Sakura up to the job?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke turned their gazes at the pink-haired medical student. Sakura blushed.

"I'd…if you'd teach me, I would learn," she said quietly.

"Come on, teme," Naruto coaxed. "We could teach her taijutsu, how to use kunai-"

"What's taijutsu?" Sakura interrupted.

"Martial arts," Sasuke clarified. "Hmm. Well, in the end, it's up to Sakura. What do you think?" He turned to her.

"I…I'll do it," Sakura decided, after a moment of thought.

"Then it's settled, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered. "Shall we start?"

"N-now?"

"Put on a set of loose clothes and come with me," Sasuke ordered. "Naruto, stay here. I want you to run an inventory check and make sure everything is still here. Oh, and clean up Sakura's apartment while you're at it."

"WHAT?! I'm not your SLAVE, teme!" Naruto shouted.

"Hnn." Sasuke pushed Sakura out the door and followed. Before he slammed the door, he stuck his head back in.

"Oh, and dobe?"

"Nani, nani?" Naruto was rummaging through the ransacked apartment.

"Don't lose it."

And with that cryptic message, Sasuke shut the door on the shocked face of the Ninetails.

**OK, while I'm working on completing the next chapter of _The Black Panther_ (note: I type and write fast, so updates are frequent), I need you guys to review! I'd like to see 20 new ones...that would be nice...pretty please? makes cute face**

**Since my updates are so frequent, I get impatient waiting for people to finish reviewing so I can post the new chappie. The likelihood that I'm just waiting for my quota to be filled as you're reading this sentence is pretty high. In other words, if you're reading this, I probably have already finished chapter 5, unless something happens and I can't write for a while. I can probably do a chapter an hour, but that's WAY too fast:) lol**

**My point is, the more people read and review (I like seeing those things...they're like a drug), the faster you will get your next chapter. So cooperate with my speedy typing and let's set the fastest record for 20 reviews ever!! Come on, this story's had over 1000 hits...it shouldn't be hard...**

**Thanks for reading! Luv you all!**

**Rhulain**


	5. Getting to Know Them

"Alright, Sakura, we'll start with the basics," Sasuke said. Sakura felt the warm summer breeze and smiled in delight. They were up on the flat roof of her apartment building, the moon and city lights casting a glow on the two. Sakura was in a pink T-shirt and black shorts, Sasuke, in his typical black.

"Taijutsu is a conquering of the body, subduing it to your will," Sasuke said, taking up a stance. Sakura tried to copy him. "To master taijutsu, you must be strong, coordinated, and agile. You must also have the willpower. That's an essential: without willpower, you cannot do anything. So we'll start with a simple exercise. Do you understand?"

Sakura nodded. Sasuke's bare feet made a pleasant shuffling sound on the cement as he came towards her.

"Sit."

Sakura obeyed. Sasuke joined her, sitting Indian style, straight as a ramrod, gazing up at the moonlit sky. After a few moments, Sakura dared to interrupt the silence.

"Um…what are we doing?"

"Sit up straighter."

Sakura was a bit huffed about asking a question and receiving only a command, but she obeyed. Sasuke did not look at her, instead, fixing his gaze on the eastern horizon.

They sat there for a long time. Slowly, torturously slowly, the moon descended and the stars began to fade. A tinge of gray appeared in the sky. Sakura was sleepy, but she knew that Sasuke would not be happy if she closed her eyelids. So she sat there, cross-legged, wondering why on earth Sasuke was making her do this.

As the sun came over the skyscrapers in the east, Sasuke stood up. Sakura was quick to follow, brushing herself off. Her muscles had cramped from being in the same position for so long, but curiosity overcame the pain.

"You're patient," Sasuke said. His eyes turned to fire in the light of the rising sun. "That's the first sign of a good taijutsu master. He is patient and willing to wait for progress. Just as you wait for the night to end and day to come, so the taijutsu student must faithfully wait until he masters the art. Come."

Thinking that this was all very strange indeed, Sakura followed Sasuke back down the elevator and into her apartment, desperately longing for a good long nap. They found Naruto curled up on the floor next to a huge pile that was obviously most of the things in the apartment.

While Sasuke prodded Naruto with his foot, Sakura went into her bedroom and crawled into bed without bothering to change into her nightclothes. Exhausted from last night's events and from not getting any sleep, she fell asleep immediately.

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"Ow! Geez, teme, I'm up! I'm up! You happy?" Naruto growled, rubbing his back where Sasuke had kicked him. The Black Panther ignored his protests and continued returning things to their proper places.

"We're going back tonight."

Naruto stopped complaining and stared at his partner. "What?!"

"We're going back tonight," Sasuke repeated, storing things away in a high cupboard. "I want to see what it was that you found."

Naruto rubbed his head. "Well, it was a just a-"

In a flurry of black, Sasuke clamped his hand over a shocked Naruto's mouth!

"Shut up," he whispered in Naruto's ear. "There were enemy clones in here last night, remember? We could be bugged, right now!"

"Oh, right," Naruto gulped. "Sorry." Sasuke released him, shaking his head at the naivety of his partner.

"Hnn. Not only have I got to guard others against you, but I've got to guard you from your own stupidity, as well."

For once, Naruto said nothing in response to Sasuke's insult. Instead, he looked sadly out the window. Sasuke shot him a glance, inwardly feeling slightly guilty, but outwardly crossing his arms and looking stern.

"Sasuke, what if…what if she finds out about…that?" Naruto asked weakly. "Do you think she'll hate me?"

"We'll explain why we're partners," Sasuke said tersely. "She'll understand." He cleared out a space on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked, his depression now cured by curiosity.

"I'm going to sleep," Sasuke growled, fishing out a black blanket and wrapping himself in it. "Panthers are nocturnal, remember? You're on watch."

"Did you just crack a joke?" Naruto stuttered, taken off balance by Sasuke's comment.

"Am I not allowed to use my wit? Shut up."

Naruto grinned and went to the kitchen to find something to eat, shutting the blinds on the window behind him.

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"It was over here," the Ninetails recalled. The Black Panther was in his wake, his black eyes keeping a constant vigil against the moonlit darkness. The two superheroes had returned to the lot where Sarutobi's apartment building had once stood. Back at their base, Sakura was armed and ready with a selection of weapons from their decent store. Tonight, the Ninetails and Black Panther were ready for anything.

Naruto stopped beside a huge chunk of rock. "It was under there." He pointed. Sasuke sighed.

"Dobe, how do you see something that's UNDER something else?"

"The moon, remember?" Naruto said defensively. "Last night it was over the building over there. It glanced off this thing, and I saw the corner of it."

"What do you think it was?"

"It looked like glass…"

The Black Panther sighed. "Naruto, if it was under this rock, it's probably been ground to dust."

"Just check!" Naruto pleaded. Sasuke sighed. With one motion, the Panther bent, lifted the huge chunk of rock, and heaved it up. Naruto dove under the place where the rock had rested and cheered.

"Here it is!"

Sasuke shifted the rock aside and took a look. Underneath the place where the rock had rested, a little niche had been wormed into the earth. Inside the little hollow, uncrushed, lay a shard of glass the size of his palm. Naruto pulled it out and laid it on his black-gloved palm. Both the Ninetails and the Black Panther stared at it.

There was a smudge of dried black liquid encrusted to the shard of glass they held.

"What is it?" Naruto asked after some time. Sasuke frowned.

"It looks like the remnants of a test tube of some sort, or a beaker. But we don't know if it's from Sarutobi's apartment or not."

"Yes, we do." The Ninetails pointed. The Panther's eyes narrowed.

Emblazoned on the very edge of the shard, missing its bottom half, was the symbol of a jumping monkey.

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Sakura sighed. It was proving to be a long night, and her medical studies were not the best of companions.

_At least, not when there are superheroes rooming with you_, her mind said. _You could be having such a blast, if you only had superpowers like they do!_

**Shut up,** Sakura told herself miserably.

_It's TRUE! That's why they have to train you in taijutsu and weaponry, you don't have a power that can be used to defend their base. They're just trying to make the best of a bad situation_, her mind continued.

**Thinking about this isn't going to make it any better,** Sakura chastised herself. **Your life is completely normal, except that two superheroes are using your home as a base. But it's only a temporary set-up, I'm sure.**

_Then why are they training you in defense?_ her inner asked sneakily. _Why bother unless they wanted to stay here for a while?_

Sakura was about to reply when the door to her apartment opened and the Black Panther and Ninetails emerged. Sakura remembered what had happened last time: she stood up, picked up the gun the two had left her, and aimed it at them.

"Don't move." She looked at the man garbed as the Black Panther. "You, what's the first step to mastering taijutsu?"

"Patience is the key," Sasuke murmured. Sakura lowered the gun.

"It's you guys," she said with a sigh of relief. Sasuke pulled off his mask, loosening his chokoto sheath strap.

"Your question wasn't personal enough, Sakura. If we had been clones or enemies, there's a chance that we might have known or guessed the answer to that question. Make it something only Naruto or I would know."

"It would be easier if I knew more about you," Sakura retorted, a little flustered that he had shrugged off her attempt to secure his lair. "But I don't! You're all so secretive!"

In the doorway to the living room, Naruto stiffened. Sasuke noticed, but did not draw attention to it.

"Very well, Sakura. That's a fair accusation, but you must remember that a degree of secrecy is required in our profession." Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but Sasuke cut her off with a raised hand. "However, you are no ordinary person: you have two of us living with you. You, more than any other civilian, has the right to know more. So tomorrow night, we'll go out to dinner. You can ask us then."

Sasuke brushed a relatively shocked Sakura, nudged the frozen Naruto, and settled down in his lair. Sakura hit the kitchen chair with a thump, still surprised. Had Sasuke just declared that he was taking her on date? Or did the dinner plan include Naruto? Either way, Sakura was on her way to her first ever dinner with a guy…or maybe even two.

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**Hmm…there's really not much I have to say. Except my new catchphrase: "YOSH!" (Sorry, Lee!)**


	6. On a Date with Two Superheroes!

"Wow, teme, you sure like nice stuff," Naruto observed as the two superheroes and their hostess made their way up the steps. Sasuke ignored him, instead holding the door for a slightly astonished Sakura. Never, in her wildest dreams, had she set foot at the Harbour Club.

The semi-formal restaurant and lounge was filled on Friday night with the young, throbbing life of Konoha City. Sakura was almost certain that there were celebrities in this crowd, but she wasn't certain.

"Reservation for Uchiha," Sasuke said to the hostess. She looked rather flustered at the impressive good looks of the young man in front of her. Sasuke was wearing a black turtleneck shirt over a pair of jeans. He wore a pair of glasses that Sakura was sure had just plain glass in them, but nonetheless, they were handsome on his face.

"Y-yes, of course, sir," the hostess tittered. "Right this way, if you please."

Naruto gave Sakura a little nudge as Sasuke started to follow the blushing hostess. "Go on!"

Sakura couldn't help but notice the swiveling heads in the booths as they passed. For one, Sasuke and Naruto were possibly some of the hottest men in the area. Naruto was wearing an open black button-up shirt over a loud orange T-shirt in varying shades. He, too, wore jeans. For the other part, Sakura had pink hair. How often do you meet girls (and good-looking ones at that) with pink hair? In a sleeveless white top and jeans to boot?

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto were swiftly seated in one of the back booths, far enough away from the other customers that they could talk and not be overheard. Sasuke slid into one side of the booth, Naruto into the other. It was up to Sakura to choose who to sit next to. In the end, she chose to sit next to Naruto, who beamed at her. The light flashed off Sasuke's fake glasses, hiding the disillusionment (or was it disappointment?) in those dark eyes.

Their waitress came soon. Apparently she had been warned by the hostess: Sakura had never known that a skirt could get so short.

"Welcome to the Harbour Club, ma'am, sirs," she said, flushing on the word 'sirs'. "Can I start by taking your drink orders?"

"I'll have a glass of Pinot," Naruto said. Sasuke glared at him, his arm stretched out across the back of the empty space beside him.

"No, you won't."

"Oh, right." Naruto seemed to have remembered something. "Well, then, a glass of the House red wine will do for me."

The waitress jotted it down, then turned to Sasuke. "For you?"

"A virgin pina colada," Sasuke said. The waitress turned even darker at the word 'virgin', but she managed to keep her cool.

"Are you driving tonight, sir? If you don't mind my asking?" she said sweetly, hoping to catch his attention.

"Sakura, what do you want?" Sasuke asked, ignoring the waitress. Sakura blushed.

"Well, um, I don't want to be a burden or anything…"

"This is on us," Naruto said. "You order whatever you want, we'll pay for it."

"W-water, then," Sakura said. The waitress immediately lost the aura of sweetness she had been wearing when Sasuke and Naruto were ordering, her pen briskly jotting down Sakura's order.

When she had gone to get their drinks, Sasuke unfolded the menu and disappeared behind it.

"What do you recommend?" Sakura asked Naruto, trying to quell the sudden awkward silence.

"Dunno, I've never been here before," Naruto said dully. They all stared at their menus in silence.

After their drinks had come, Naruto ordered a bowl of house ramen. Sasuke and Sakura both requested rockfish. As soon as the flirty waitress had left again, Sasuke leaned across the table towards Sakura.

"Alright, then, you said you wanted to know more about us. Fire away."

Sakura hadn't been expecting this. Both Naruto and Sasuke watched her expectantly.

"Um…what are your real names?" she said, trying to imagine that they were just average people she had run into.

"That's a dangerous question to ask in public, Sakura-chan," Naruto said seriously. "But we'll tell you." He leaned in closer and whispered in her ear. It tickled. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke looked at her. "You've already heard my last name."

"Eh?"

"I held the reservations under my own name. I never connect the two, I'm always either 'Sasuke' or 'Uchiha'. Never together."

"Oh. Well, then, do you guys have families?" Sakura asked. She knew almost instantly that it was a faux pas (the wrong thing to say). Sasuke's face instantly went dark, and Naruto's mood grew distinctly colder.

"Here you are!" the waitress chirruped. "Two orders of rockfish and one bowl of ramen!"

Naruto dug in heartily, leaving Sasuke to answer for both of them.

"Naruto's an orphan. He's never known his parents, grew up on the street. I'm…my parents are dead," he said flatly. Sakura knew it was unwise to ask about siblings. Sasuke was already looking dangerous.

"How did you guys get to be superheroes?" she asked, trying to steady the conversation. Naruto swallowed his mouthful as Sasuke took a bite.

"We don't know."

"What?" Sakura was confused. "You don't know?! But surely you remember-"

"No, we don't." It was Sasuke who was speaking now. "We don't have the memories anymore."

"ANBU takes the memories of how we became superheroes from us and stores them in their archives," Naruto clarified. "They also generally make copies of the person's memories before that."

"But…but…surely you remember something?" Sakura pressed.

"We can't. They took those particular memories away. There's a gaping hole in our past," Sasuke said, flaking off some more of the creamy rockfish.

"Every time I try to remember, there's just a period of black," Naruto said. "It hurts my head. I don't think about it too much, though – I mean, it's not there, is it?"

"But what's ANBU? Why did they take your memories?" Sakura persisted. Naruto smiled.

"Now you're getting to the heart of the matter. ANBU. What's it stand for again, Sasuke?"

"Hnn, dobe, there's no point in my telling you, since you'll just forget again," Sasuke said. "All that really matters is the first letter: 'A'. It stands for 'Alliance'. The 'NBU' basically means 'superheroes', but I don't expect Naruto to remember that."

"An alliance of superheroes?"

"Well, it's more like a 'Justice League'," Naruto said. "It's…affiliated with the government, but operates independently on its own funds. There's a lot of superheroes associated with ANBU, and they've all had the memories of how they became superheroes wiped, too."

"Why do they do that?" asked Sakura.

"If a superhero turns evil, they can go back and guess at what might have caused the change," Sasuke said. "They can also guess at how the new villain might use his powers, and thus choose from among the ANBU ranks the best person to defeat him. But that rarely ever happens; superheroes never defect."

"So when ANBU gets a call from the government, they send someone like you to investigate?"

Naruto smirked. "You're asking to know how ANBU works, Sakura-chan. Not even we know that."

"But they paired you guys together!" Sakura protested. "Surely you know something?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke's eyes flashed. "Aye," Sasuke murmured quietly, "we know our own powers. ANBU does, too. They choose who we work with. Sometimes it's in groups of three, sometimes we go solo. I won't lie to you, Sakura, it's unusual how long Naruto and I have gone together in a pair."

"Normally, we'd just be partners for one or two missions, and then be done with it," Naruto expounded. "But ANBU…likes us together for some reason. Maybe it's just the way our powers coordinate."

"Or don't coordinate," Sasuke finished. Sakura's brow wrinkled.

"We know that ANBU gets requests from the government, and we know that sometimes we're sent out at the leaders' discretion," Naruto said. "But we don't ask questions. It's not a safe thing to do at ANBU. We're the guardians, the protectors, the defenders, not the ones asking the questions. Leave that and the red tape to the politicians."

"We investigate on orders, but once we're associated with ANBU, we do very little on our own," Sasuke amended. "There are relatively few free-ranging supers left. Most of us work for someone like ANBU."

"There are other organizations?"

"Some, but not many. There's a small watchdog group called Setsuki, that's probably the largest one besides ANBU. The only other super organizations besides that are the villains'," Naruto said.

"Villains have organizations, too?"

"Hnn. If the supers unite, what's to stop the villains?" Sasuke pointed out. "It makes them stronger, a unified force against us. But there aren't as many evil organizations as there are superhero ones, maybe it's something in the way a lot of villains want world domination, I don't know."

"We're after a free-ranging villain right now," Naruto said, leaning closer to the girl next to him.

"Dobe, don't tell her mission details!" Sasuke growled. "That's not safe!"

"I won't tell," Sakura promised. Sasuke gave her a look over.

"I don't know, Sakura. Torture could bring it out of you," he said darkly. Sakura gasped.

"Torture?!"

"Villains don't exercise restraint like they do in the movies, Sakura-chan," Naruto said quietly. "It's either you or them, in the end. And they don't care what they do to you, as long as they get what they want."

"If the right man got his hands on you…" Sasuke left off there.

"…I could seriously jeopardize the position of the Black Panther and the Ninetails, am I right?" Sakura said. Her two companions hesitated, then nodded. Sakura pushed her plate away. "Then teach me how to defend myself. I'll put up a fight before any villain takes me!"

"That's the spirit, Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned. Even Sasuke smirked.

None of them noticed the man with long, silvery hair in a purple shirt and black pants slip away from a nearby table. He had been too far away to hear a word they said, Sasuke had gotten the corner table expressly to guard against being overheard.

But not even Sasuke could have anticipated that this man could read lips.

**-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**Hmm…can anyone guess who the eavesdropper was? Or eavesreader, should I say? Yosh! The Black Panther is on the move! There hasn't been a lot of action, I know, I'm getting there. Just be patient. It will come, I promise!**


	7. Sarutobi's Potion

The next few weeks flew by in a hurry. Sakura was kept busy training by Sasuke and Naruto by day and studying by night. She felt so rushed that she barely had time to eat and sleep. But if Sakura had it bad, Sasuke and Naruto had it worse. Between monitoring the streets by day and prowling as the Black Panther and Ninetails by night, they had been foregoing real meals and instead snacking on the job.

Naruto had taught Sakura the trick to throwing shuriken and kunai, the ninja weapons. He also taught her how to fire a gun and how to sharpshoot at a far-away target. More than once his hand covered hers on the barrel of a gun in a way that might have been a little unnecessary.

Sasuke, on the other hand, made no physical contact unless it was required. He would only spar and train with Sakura at night, so their sessions were limited. However, Sasuke was such a proficient teacher that Sakura was nearly able to outspar Naruto seven weeks into her training.

"Geez, Sasuke, what are you teaching her, dattebayo?" Naruto grumbled, rubbing his head as he got up off the cement surface of the flat roof. Sakura was still in her defensive position, panting slightly, but on her toes, waiting for a signal from the Panther. He nodded and she relaxed her guard.

"Sakura shows uncanny natural coordination and speed," he admitted when Naruto pressed him. "She learns swiftly."

"Could she hold her own against you?" Naruto asked. Sasuke shot a glance at the pink-haired girl.

"I have never attacked her, and I don't plan on starting to now."

Naruto and Sasuke also trained Sakura in the identification of clones. Often, they would test her by creating two clones: a free-will and a puppet clone. Depending on the situation, Sakura had to decide which of the clones was more dangerous and attack it. Sometimes the clones were armed, sometimes they were disguised.

"That's the fifth time in a row she's gotten it right," Naruto said in awe as the clones disappeared in a puff of orange smoke. "How are you doing it, Sakura-chan?"

"Are you seeing something we can't?" Sasuke demanded. "Is it a sixth sense?"

"N-not really," Sakura said, a little disoriented after coming out of her fighting spirit. "I just sort of…guess. I mean, I just look at them, and one of them just seems more dangerous than the other. I don't really know how to explain it."

"Try," Sasuke pressed.

"I can't. It would be like asking me to tell you whether you or Naruto was more handsome," Sakura said. She suddenly blushed a deep red, realizing what she had just said.

"I thought the answer to that was obvious, dattebayo!" Naruto said in mock outrage. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Without warning, Sasuke charged Sakura!

"TEME! WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Sakura heard Naruto yell. But it was faint, distant. She gripped a kunai with two hands in front of her, waiting for the streaking Panther to reach her. The charging Sasuke drew his chokoto, the blade flashing in the moonlight. Sakura raised her kunai to parry his stroke when…

Sasuke disappeared in a flash of blue smoke!

Sakura gasped as an arm encircled her waist and another her shoulder. Something steel, shiny, sharp, and cold pressed against the softness of her throat. Sakura's peripheral vision told her that there were wings of jet-black raven hair hanging on either side of her face.

"You let your guard down," Sasuke muttered in her ear. "You automatically assumed that my clone charging you was the only enemy around. And that means death."

The silver blade rippled like water as Sasuke withdrew it from Sakura's neck. She let out the breath she didn't know she was holding as he stepped back, his arm releasing her waist.

"I guess your sense pertains only to enemies you can see," Sasuke mused. "You have to compare them with your eyes in order to determine who's the most dangerous."

Sakura's heart fell as she realized the truth: Sasuke's move had only been a test. A test of her skills, to see if she was something out of the ordinary. And she had failed. What would he think of her now?

Sasuke strode over to Naruto. "It's late, and Sakura has an examination tomorrow." Sakura gasped as she realized that Sasuke actually paid attention to what she was doing in her personal life. How else would he have known about her test tomorrow? "Let's go back downstairs."

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"What do you think it is, teme?" Naruto asked quietly. Sasuke was turning the mysterious shard of glass over and over in his hand, as if trying to scry a message in his reflection. It was late; Sakura had already gone to bed. The Ninetails and Black Panther were still awake, whiling away the night hours on their case.

"Well, it was obviously the Jumping Monkey's," Sasuke said, careful not to scrape away the black liquid that had dried on the glass. "But was it just a random substance he had, or was someone trying to get at this?"

"Was Sarutobi experimenting with something illegal?" Naruto suggested. Sasuke held the shard up to the light.

"He was a super, maybe he wanted something that would help the supers against the villains," he hypothesized.

"But what would that be?" Naruto protested.

"Dobe, I don't know anything about this shard!" Sasuke said, getting slightly angry. "Stop shooting holes in my theories, as if I actually believed them!"

"OK! OK! Sorry, it's just that we're not getting anywhere," Naruto muttered. Sasuke's eyes stole once again to the dried drop of black liquid on the glass stain.

"I wonder what was in this beaker," he murmured. "What would have old man Sarutobi been keeping in this?"

"It had his seal on it," Naruto pointed out. "It could have been something top secret."

"If only we had a small amount of it!" Sasuke growled. "If I could just get it analyzed, we could be making some progress. As it is, we're stuck with a useless shard!"

"It's not quite useless," a voice said from the doorway. The Panther and Ninetails both grabbed the hilts of their respective weapons and turned. Sakura was in the doorway of her bedroom, a quilted bathrobe on and a sleepy expression on her face.

"I heard you guys arguing," she said, indicating why she wasn't currently asleep. "May I see the shard, Sasuke-kun?"

The honorific was a new thing. Since Sasuke and Naruto had opened up a little to Sakura, they now allowed her to call them 'Sasuke-kun' and 'Naruto-kun'. Or at least, Sasuke did. Naruto, on the other hand, relished her use of the honorific.

"Do you think you could do something with it, Sakura-chan?" Naruto said excitedly as Sakura took the shard from Sasuke's palm.

"I've seen something like this happen before," she said. "It was in the lab, I think. We came in to find that one of our tubes had shattered overnight, leaving no trace of its contents except for the stuff that had dried on the shards. We were all devastated, that was an important bit of work. But Tsudane-sama, my teacher..."

"What?" Naruto pressed.

"She took a shard that had a bit of our solution on it," Sakura recalled. "She stuck it in a clean beaker of water and dissolved the dried solution. So we had the solution, it was only watered down. Then Tsudane-sama concentrated it, steaming away the water and leaving the solution in the beaker. And then we had-"

"…a small amount of the original liquid!" Sasuke finished. "Ingenious."

"And was this YOUR idea, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. Sakura ignored him, instead going into the kitchen and returning with a clean glass cup filled partially with water.

"Ready, Sasuke-kun?" she asked. Sasuke nodded. With a black pair, a blue pair, and her own green pair of eyes anxiously watching, Sakura dropped the shard into the glass of water.

The shard sank to the bottom, a black streamer of solution coming off of it. Sakura gently shook the container to make sure all the solution had come off the shard, then turned to Sasuke.

"You have the equipment to do this?"

It was a tedious process, but eventually, the steam from the water was siphoned away. Sakura took what was left in the beaker Sasuke had provided and poured the solution into a small, thin flute. Once it was full, she stoppered it with a cork that was hung on a chain.

Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto found themselves looking at a vial on a necklace that was full of a iridescent, black liquid. It was only a half swallow's worth, but it looked sinister, nonetheless.

"What is it, do you suppose?" Sakura asked fearfully. Sasuke took the chain from her and draped it over his neck. It hung there like a good-luck charm.

"I don't know, but I'm going to send this back to ANBU headquarters to be analyzed," he said softly. "I don't know what's in here, but I don't like the looks of it."

"You were BRILLIANT, Sakura-chan!" Naruto squealed. "Remembering what your teacher did like that, that was really awesome!"

"Thanks, Naruto-kun," Sakura said, beaming at him. Sasuke shot her a glance.

"We are in your debt, Sakura."

"As are we," a tenor voice interjected. "Now turn around, Panther, and hand the vial to me. Don't try anything funny – you're surrounded."

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**GASP! What's going on? What'll happen to our three heroes? Or should I say,**


	8. The Ninetails Awakened!

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked calmly. He had not turned around yet. Beside him, Naruto sidestepped so that he was in between Sakura and those behind them.

"Who I am doesn't concern you yet," the voice said silkily. "All I want is the potion in your hand. Hand it over, and I'll let you live."

Behind her, Sakura thought she heard Naruto whisper something. But it was lost in the shuffle of feet behind the trio.

"This potion, you call it?" Sasuke said slowly, trying to buy them time. "What's so special about it? Why is it so important to you?"

The man behind them laughed. "Can it be? You, the Black Panther, does not know what he handles? This is almost beyond belief…"

"Well, then, who wants it?"

The man snickered. "Immortality is a real gift, Panther. There are plenty who would give their arms for what you hold in your hand."

"Including you?"

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura spun around as the man behind them gasped. They found themselves staring at a man with spiky silver hair gathered into a ponytail, together with two or three of the black-wearing, katana-bearing, masked clones that had attacked Sasuke and Naruto at Sarutobi's building. Each of them had a clone of Naruto next to them holding a kunai to their throat and another to their shoulder.

"I can carve you up slowly," the Naruto next to the silver pony-tailed man said. "Bit by bit! Shall we start with the arm?"

"No! Naruto!"

Sakura cried out as Sasuke suddenly turned and punched the Naruto next to him! With an orange poof, all the clones went out. The enemy clones disappeared at the same time in a similar puff of purple smoke. The silver-haired man sighed as Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the shoulders, gritting his teeth as he fought to subdue the Ninetails.

"Really, this was getting interesting, too. Your friend has some talent, Panther, I'll give you that."

"Want me to unleash him?" Sasuke snarled. The silver-haired man smirked as he formed a handsign.

"Not just yet. I'd prefer that at a different time and place. And since it's obvious I can't get the vial now, I'll exercise patience. Farewell."

Sakura gasped as there was another puff of smoke, white this time. When it cleared, the man had disappeared.

"Next time you come back, I'll let him go!" Sasuke yelled at the place where he had disappeared. "You won't be so keen to take this vial again – if you're in one piece, that is!"

"NARUTO-KUN!"

Sasuke released Naruto as he slumped to the floor, his blue eyes dazed with shock. Sakura took a step toward him and made to kneel beside him, but something stopped her. Sasuke's hand closed roughly around her upper arm, hauling her across the room. Sakura cried out as Sasuke threw her into her bedroom and slammed the door behind him, plunging the room into darkness!

"Listen to me carefully, Sakura," his voice came out of the darkness. Sasuke still had not let go of her arm, he was gripping it tighter. "Naruto is dangerous right now. If he EVER gets like that, run away. Don't hesitate, or you WILL die. I'm the only one who can stop him in that state, do you hear? If he becomes like that again, call for me and get out of there. Do you understand?"

Sakura was still trembling from the sudden chain of events. Sasuke shook her and brought her face nearer to his.

"_Do you understand?!?!?!_"

Sakura gulped. His voice was terrible to hear, full of anger, fear, and coldness at the same time. Unable to speak, she nodded slowly. Sasuke must have noticed that she was getting weaker, for he guided her to her bed and allowed her to sit on it.

"I've got to go back," he murmured, releasing her arm and turning for the door.

"Wait!" Sakura grabbed his hand. Sasuke turned around in the inky darkness that was her bedroom.

"Sakura, it has to wait. Naruto needs…I must go help him."

Sakura felt a sudden electric tingle in the palm of his hand. Unlike the coolness of Sasuke's words, his palm was moist and hot. Her medical sense kicked in, and she knew that he was scared, just like she was. Sasuke knelt in front of her, looking her in the eye.

"It's going to be OK. I won't let him hurt you."

There was a bright flash as the door opened and Sasuke's silhouette disappeared back into the living room, then darkness enclosed Sakura again. There was a muffled murmur that she recognized as Sasuke's voice, then a low growl that might have been Naruto's. Sakura pressed her ear to the door, straining to hear more.

"Well, dobe, you satisfied now?" Sasuke's voice came through the wood.

"No…no…I need blood…" a voice that was definitely not Naruto's made the hair on Sakura's neck stand on end.

"There's none here," Sasuke said firmly. "Now will you calm down and cooperate?"

"Where is it? It was here, a second ago," the evil sounding voice moaned. "Blood, and lots of it…it got away, too. But that pink is still here, I know…"

"What pink?" Sakura heard the scrape of metal, and she assumed Sasuke had drawn his chokoto. "What are you talking about, you stupid Kyuubi?"

"That soft skin…it would taste sweet…refreshing…I want BLOOD!" the ragged voice whimpered, rising to a crescendoing howl. Sasuke yelled, causing Sakura to cower down by the door and cover her head. The clash and clang of metal on metal echoed from her living room, then silence.

"There, beast, you have your blood," Sasuke growled. "The same blood I've given you every time you demand more." Sakura suddenly heard an electric crackling sound from within the room. Her eyes widened. Was Sasuke about to…no, he couldn't kill him!

"You've had your fill, now GET…BACK!" Sasuke roared. From under the door, Sakura saw a blue flash. Then there was a groan from the floor.

Unwilling to listen any longer, Sakura fell on her bed and clasped her pillow tightly, trying to block out the horrific mental images her mind was drawing in her head.

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Sakura awoke in the same smothering darkness, but the sounds coming from the living room window assured her it was morning. The horns of cars, the cooing of pigeons, and the general scrape and squeal of city life told her the sun had already risen. The digital clock on the nightstand only confirmed her suspicion, telling her it was nine in the morning.

After getting dressed, Sakura opened the door to her bedroom cautiously. Her memories of last night's conversation flooded back into her mind as she gazed around the room. There were dents in several of the silver, shiny instrument panels installed in her walls, and there were still a few stains on the floor. Sakura shivered: those black stains looked horribly like blood.

"Ah, Sakura. You're awake."

Sakura spun around to see Sasuke leaning against the doorframe into the kitchen, holding a mug of something in his hands. He looked her over.

"Um…ah…good morning, Sasuke-kun," Sakura stammered. Sasuke had made a change from his traditional black wardrobe: today he was wearing a black T-shirt under a blue long-sleeved jacket and jeans. Sasuke turned from the doorframe with the mug and set it on the table.

"Drink this. It'll help," she heard him say to the person she couldn't see sitting in the kitchen. Sakura entered to find not one, but two people sitting at her kitchen table!

"Oh, Panther, who's this?" the stranger smiled. Sakura stared. This man, like the one from last night, had long, silver-colored hair. However, it stood almost straight up. He wore a face mask that covered his mouth and nose, and a hastily tied navy-blue bandanna covered his left eye.

"Scarecrow, this is the girl who's allowed us to use her apartment as a base," Sasuke said. "Sakura, meet the Scarecrow."

"'Kakashi', please," the Scarecrow said, standing up to shake hands with Sakura. "Thanks for giving the Panther and the Ninetails someplace to stay."

"She knows our names, Kakashi," Sasuke pointed out. Kakashi smiled.

"So they trust you, eh? I can see why."

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," Sakura murmured to the other man sitting at her table. Naruto sat gloomily, staring into the mug of coffee Sasuke had handed him.

"Morning, Sakura," he said.

"Well, I'd better be going," Kakashi said, pushing back his chair and standing up. "Thank you again for your hospitality to these two, Sakura!" And with a white puff of smoke, Kakashi disappeared in exactly the same way as the man from yesterday had.

"Sorry about last night, Sakura-chan," a subdued Naruto muttered, while Sasuke leaned against the wall, watching the whole exchange. "I…I'm not myself when I do that." He grinned weakly. "I sure hope I didn't make you think badly of me. Thanks to teme, here, I didn't get too far out of hand."

Sakura didn't miss the warning look Sasuke shot Naruto.

"Are you planning on drinking that, dobe, or not?"

Naruto shook his head. Sasuke was about to pick up the mug when the sleeve of his jacket slipped. He shook his wrist and covered it, but that didn't stop Sakura from seeing the white strips wrapped around his arm. She leapt up.

"Sasuke-kun! What happened to your arm?!"

"Hnn. It's nothing."

Sasuke tried to stop her as she went for his arm, but Sakura was fast. She seized his wrist and pushed the sleeve up. From wrist to elbow, Sasuke had bandages up and down his arm. Even then it wasn't enough: Sakura could see a bit of red that had seeped through to the upper bandages. She gasped.

"Sasuke-kun! Why didn't you let me treat it?! How long have you had this?"

Sasuke jerked his arm away. "It's nothing," he growled again. "Stay out of it, Sakura!"

Sakura was about to protest when Naruto stopped her. "Please, Sakura-chan, if Sasuke says it's his business, it's his business. Just leave him alone, OK?"

Sakura had the feeling that the two weren't telling her something, but she cooperated and held her silence.

"Who was that man, Kakashi?" she asked. "Or should I say, 'The Scarecrow'?"

"Kakashi's our supervisor," Sasuke said, sitting down with a sigh. "In ANBU, an older super is assigned to "watch over" five or so younger superheroes. You know, to make sure we aren't carried away, a sort of mentor, perhaps. Naruto and I" –he glanced at his partner- "are unique in that we are the only ones Kakashi is assigned to supervise. There's no one else under him."

"So why was he here?" Sakura asked warily, hoping to get into last night's business.

"Oh, just checking up on us, making sure we were OK," Sasuke said airily, in a tone that was every bit as faked as Sakura's.

"Kakashi's got a bit of the powers that Sasuke's hoping to develop," Naruto broke in, still tracing patterns on the grained wood of the table. "Sasuke's hoping to pick up a few tips from him. He's also the son of the White Fang, and the White Fang's always been Sasuke's hero."

"More than that," Sasuke said. "Kakashi's the one who could help me unlock my full psychic powers, but he keeps refusing."

"Probably thinks you're not ready yet," Naruto said, snickering. He was slowly regaining his normal color.

"Well, I have to go to med school now," Sakura said cheerfully, picking up her shoulder bag from where it hung over the back of a chair. "I'll be on my way."

Sasuke and Naruto watched her go in silence. As soon as the door slammed, Naruto resumed tracing the table.

"Do you think I should tell her?"

Sasuke stretched his arm out across the back of the empty chair. "Hnn. It's your problem, and your decision."

"Blood had to be shed on my account," Naruto murmured, staring at Sasuke's right forearm. "She does deserve to know why."

Sasuke fished the vial of black liquid on the chain out from under his T-shirt. "That's not the worst of our problems. Someone attacked us last night for this. Why do they want it?"

Sasuke and Naruto's distorted faces were reflected off the glass of the tiny little container.

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**Hmm…the plot thickens. What happened to Naruto behind the closed door last night? Why did the silver-haired man in purple demand the crystal vial? All is not what it seems when you're dealing with the Black Panther…**


	9. The Danger is Real

"I've got to go to headquarters," Sasuke announced that night at dinner. Sakura and Naruto both glanced up at him, their mouths full of miso.

"What for?" Naruto asked when he had swallowed.

"This." Sasuke pulled out the little vial. "I want to get it analyzed. They've got the labs and stuff that they'll need at HQ."

"When are you leaving?" Sakura asked. Sasuke stood up.

"Now."

"Wait a moment, teme! How long do you plan to be gone?" There was a tinge of worry in Naruto's voice. Sasuke looked at him.

"Not too long, I just need to drop it off. I forgot to give it to Kakashi – that might have been the best idea. But it's probably safer and faster if I give it to them myself."

Sasuke was already wearing his black Russian pants and his robe-like black shirt, now, he slung the strap of his chokoto over his broad, strong shoulders.

"Dobe?"

"Nani, nani, what is it?" Naruto asked, distracted once again by Sakura's excellent cooking.

"Watch Sakura carefully," Sasuke said seriously. "It's not safe for a single young woman to be out and about on her own. Take care of her."

Naruto paused mid-bite, an incredulous grin spreading across his face.

"Could it be, teme? You're actually CONCERNED about her?"

"Sakura," Sasuke said, turning to her, "be careful. It would be a disaster if you were to fall into the wrong hands."

"I _knew_ it, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered. "Sasuke loves Sakura, Sasuke loves Sakura…"

Sasuke hit him over the head without even sparing him a look. "Naruto, when I get back, we're going to get onto the Snake Lord's mission," he said calmly.

"Nani?" Naruto groaned, rubbing the painful lump on his head.

"We've left off on our official missions for too long. Besides, this potion is the only clue we've got. We'll drop the Sarutobi murder case and switch over to our assignment," Sasuke declared. He strode over to the open living room window.

"Oh, and Naruto?"

"Eh?"

"Don't lose it," Sasuke warned yet again. Sakura gasped as he seemed to fall backwards out the window, but a black streak on the next building told the two watchers that the Black Panther was heading away. Naruto slammed the window shut.

"He's gone, and good riddance, dattebayo."

"Well, now what?" Sakura asked nervously. Naruto propped his head on the table and looked at her.

"I dunno, what do you feel like doing? I'm supposed to protect you, or else teme will have my head. Looks like I'm following you around today."

"Well, I had planned to do a bit of shopping," Sakura said.

"Looks like I'm going with you, then, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

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"MAN, this is a DRAG!" Naruto whined as Sakura browsed through racks of clothing. "Not like I quote comrades of mine too often, but this is too TROUBLESOME!"

"Calm down, I'm almost done," Sakura sighed.

"But you said that half an hour ago!" Naruto complained. Sakura turned around and prodded him in the chest.

"Listen, Naruto, I can see why Sasuke-kun has patience issues with you. You just get on everyone's nerves! Now shut up!"

"OK, OK, geez, dattebayo," Naruto murmured.

They emerged from the store fifteen minutes later, Naruto carrying Sakura's bags. She checked her watch.

"I've got time to hit one more place, then we have to go."

"ANOTHER store!??! I thought we were finished, dattebayo!" Naruto groaned. Sakura turned around and dealt him a hefty punch, as taught to her by Sasuke. Naruto fell to the ground, sprouting a lump from his head.

"NARUTO, YOU BAKA!" Sakura yelled. All across the mall, people stopped and stared at the yelling pink-haired girl and the blonde boy now sitting on the ground.

"Do you think they're breaking up?" one girl asked her friend.

"I dunno, but if they are, do you think he'd go out with me?"

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"Geez, Sakura-chan, why'd you do all this shopping?" Naruto asked, looking at the bags now lying on the table. Sakura shot him a look from over by the stove.

"It's not a lot of shopping, in fact, it's very little." She blushed. "I can't afford to spend lots of money on nice clothes, but I feel like I deserve a treat. It IS my birthday tomorrow, after all."

"Your birthday?" Naruto asked, scratching his head. "And how old are you turning, Sakura-chan?"

"Twenty-one," she said proudly. "I'll be able to legally drink alcohol!"

Naruto gasped. "There's a drinking age?!?!" He laughed at the astounded look on Sakura's face. "Just kidding with you, Sakura-chan. Heh, I'm already twenty-one."

"Liar." The voice came from the window in the living room. Sakura and Naruto both whirled around to see the familiar shape of the Black Panther crouched on the sill!

"He's faking it, Sakura," Sasuke said, leaping lightly down into the room. Somehow, he had managed to make it all the way to the top of the building and then open the window – which Naruto had closed.

"H-h-how'd you get in here?" Naruto stammered. Sasuke glared at him.

"I'm a superhero, remember? Anyway, Sakura, Naruto's not quite twenty-one yet. He'd like you to believe it, but he's not."

"So you were LYING?!?!" Sakura turned with a dangerous expression to the suddenly sweating Naruto.

"Eh…eh…"

"So what was this about a birthday?" Sasuke said, diffusing the whole atmosphere at once.

"Oh…I turn twenty-one tomorrow, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said. "So for a birthday treat, I took Naruto shopping."

"Talk about boring, dattebayo," Naruto complained. "Why didn't you just let us get you a present?"

"But…but…you're my guests!" Sakura stammered. "I can't DEMAND a gift from you!"

"No, but we can give you one," Sasuke said. "It's only right. Come, Naruto, we have a surveillance plan to map out."

"Are you guys leaving tonight?" Sakura asked as she continued cutting beef chunks for the stew now bubbling on her small stove.

"We're leaving at sunset and returning after dawn," said Sasuke as he closed the living room door behind him.

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"Were you serious about us giving her a present, teme?" Naruto asked as Sasuke closed the door and turned to the table they had set up.

"What do you think, dobe?" was Sasuke's cryptic reply. He spread a map out on the table and pinned it down at the corners.

"This is the Snake Lord's Tower." He hit a button on the table and a 3D hologram went up from the map. Naruto found himself looking at a green model of the Snake Lord's Tower standing up off the table. Sasuke bent over the map.

"We're going to come in from the northwest and slowly circle the tower, keeping radio contact. I'll go counterclockwise, you go clockwise."

"But what will we get Sakura-chan?" Naruto interjected, still stuck on the topic of Sakura's birthday present. Sasuke shot him a glare.

"Naruto, you're the Ninetails, now. Get a grip and help me on our mission!"

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"Alright, there's the tower," the Black Panther murmured, parting several branches and peering through the forest to where the hills sloped down to a small plain. The tower was large and tall: its tip peeked above the surrounding hilltops. Gray stone rose in a smooth cylinder that was at once both dark and ominous.

"Keep a sharp eye out, Ninetails," the Panther directed. "We don't know anything about this place, that's why we're here. Just recon and surveillance. Ready?"

The Ninetails nodded. The Panther slipped a kunai out of the Ninetails' pouch and dropped it on the ground.

"Five hours, we meet back here. Don't be late."

"Yeah, yeah, teme, whatever you say," the Ninetails said, drawing another kunai from the same pouch.

Seconds later, the kunai was the only object present in the deserted clearing.

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The Panther was living up to his namesake: he leapt and flew from branch to branch through the woods, moving as silently and stealthily as a panther. The time it was taking to round the tower was incredible: it seemed like he had been trying to round one face for several hours.

Suddenly the Black Panther dropped to the forest floor, a hand on the hilt of his chokoto. The green foliage betrayed no hidden enemies in its belly, simply remaining silent as always.

_Quiet…it's too quiet!_ the Panther thought. Then one instinct shot through his senses, such a strong urge that it nearly split his head.

_GET DOWN!_

Something whistled overhead as the Panther threw himself face down into the dirt. Glancing up, he saw a metal arm-like extension about as thick as his wrist lodge itself in the bark of a tree. Moving smoothly, the Panther rolled over onto his back, drawing the chokoto as he went. The silver blade made a whining sound as it split the air.

_CLANG!_

Sasuke grimaced as the vibrations shot through the blade and into his hands. Dropping the chokoto, he wrung his hands together, trying to stop the painful vibrations. Overhead, the steel arm withdrew from the trunk, dislodging a huge chunk of wood as it went. The Panther sat up as the arm recoiled back into the woods. Grimacing slightly, Sasuke gripped his chokoto again and stood up, facing the direction from which the arm had come.

"I know you're there," he called into the darkness. "Show yourself!"

The woods were as silent as ever.

Suddenly there was a rustling from the right. Sasuke spun, blade at the ready, only to block a second later the hand on the end of the arm! Gritting his teeth, the Panther dug in, pushing back against the steel hand that was pushing on his sword blade. With one heavy thrust, Sasuke dislodged the hand and rolled backwards, waiting for the arm's next strike. The arm was just hovering there, almost as if waiting for a command…

The Panther gasped as something slashed his cheek! He put a hand to his face and felt something sticky trickling down his cheek from the gash there. Spinning, the Panther found himself looking at yet another arm. Where had this one come from?

Suddenly Sasuke was knocked off his feet. The first arm had moved and cut his feet from under him while he stared at the second opponent! Cursing himself mentally, Sasuke pulled himself upright and tugged on the mouthpiece of the wireless headset.

"Ninetails? You there? Come in, dobe!"

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"_Ninetails? You there? Come in, dobe!"_

Sasuke's voice squawked off the trees from the abandoned headset lying in the loam.

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"Kuso, where's the dobe?" the Panther snarled. "Don't tell me…"

The arms flashed again. Sasuke leapt high into the air, allowing them to cross paths underneath him. Raising his chokoto high over his head, Sasuke roared and brought it down hard in a splitting slice.

At the last second, the Panther switched from attack to counterattack and brought his blade up to stop the rising arm. The metal hand on the end closed over the blade, ignoring the sharpness of the edges. Sasuke grunted, trying to free his chokoto, but the arm was stronger than him. Releasing the chokoto, the Panther backflipped away and landed on a branch some distance away.

The arm was acting like a dog with a toy, jerking his chokoto back and forth as if trying to dislodge something from it. Sasuke's black eyes darted around the clearing, watching for the second arm. It had to be somewhere…

Then he noticed something on the arm that held his sword. The arm was comprised of metal bands connected by joints. His previous attack must have broken one of the joints, for there, sitting in plain sight, was a small bundle of red and blue wires.

_So THAT'S what's controlling the arm!_ Sasuke thought. _If I could just sever those wires…but the thing has my sword!_

_What are you, a superhero?_ he chastised himself. Taking his chances, the Panter leapt off the branch. With a roar, he dealt the exposed wires a flying kick. There was a flash of electricity, then the thud of metal hitting the ground. Sasuke snatched up his chokoto from the fallen grip of the severed hand and waited for the second arm to return.

Without warning, the Black Panther was slammed backwards against the bole of a tree!

Sasuke coughed and groaned as he felt a rib splinter under the driving force and sudden stop. The chokoto slid from his failing grasp as the Panther spat up blood onto the shiny steel of the merciless arm. The hand seemed to have grown larger: it now pinned the entirety of Sasuke's torso to the forest giant behind him.

As the Panther coughed up more blood, he knew from the internal pain that something important inside had just been damaged. A blow that hard…he didn't even want to think about what was happening inside him right now. But even wounded, Sasuke was still planning, thinking, fighting. He reached out his hands and grabbed the metal arm just below the hand that pinned him. Summoning his chakra, the Panther sent a blast of electric energy down the length of the arm!

With something almost like a sigh, the metal joints of the arm gave way. The hand's grip on Sasuke slowly faded until the entire arm lay like a prostrate worshiper at his feet. The Black Panther suddenly felt another gush of warm blood: this time down his left arm. The steel fingers of the hand had slashed his arm when they pinned him to the tree, and blood was now winding its way down Sasuke's arm. Growling, he pulled himself upright.

The electrical shock he had sent through the arm had to have reached the arm's controller. If he followed this arm long enough, the Panther should be able to tell who it was that had attacked him.

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"Chikuso! They just keep coming and coming!" the Ninetails swore. He was crouched on a tree branch, back against the trunk, dripping kunai at the ready. A small pile of spiky bodies lay on the ground at the base of the tree.

Naruto pulled another spike out of his arm with his teeth and spat it at the ground. What was with these things? Spiky little animals that could move faster than a human, with glowing red eyes and sharp spikes that they could shoot from their bodies…

He wouldn't be surprised if a few of those needles were poisoned. What were these things, senbon-hogs or something?

A chattering cry broke the Ninetails' reverie. He drew himself up and focused on the surrounding woods.

"Kuso…here they come again," he muttered.

These things were brutal: when a wire trap had caught his ankle and hung him upside down, they had come and tried to attack him – eat him was more like it. It was like someone knew that these animals lived in this area of the woods and had specifically set up the trap there for any unsuspecting visitors…

Naruto had been forced to use a bit of his chakra and form three clones: one was a puppet clone that defended him from the animals while the second clone freed him. The third was a freewill clone that Naruto had commanded to find the Black Panther. His wireless headset was useless, the jerk from the trap had pulled it off his head, and the animals' fangs, claws, and spikes had rendered it nothing more than a bit of steel casing and some wires.

The two puppet clones had vanished when the animals threw themselves at them, hoping to get a free meal. When the two humans had vanished in puffs of orange smoke; however, they were furious. Naruto had since been on the run, trying to keep the spiky creatures from eating him alive.

The first wave of spikies were trying to shoot him full of spikes. Using his kunai, the Ninetails managed to deflect most of them, but a few lodged in his legs. Grimacing, Naruto released a wave of shuriken, knowing that each weapon he threw was a precious tool. The first wave of spikies fell, only to reveal the second wave. This group was trying to lodge their fangs in him. His kunai claimed them faster than they could blink. Another rain of bodies fell to join their comrades on the ground below.

The Ninetails heard the chattering from the arboreal canopy grow louder. Grinning slightly, he jerked a few of the spikes out of his legs.

"Looks like it's time to find another spot to make a stand, dattebayo."

It had been this way for a while now: Naruto would take several attacks in one spot before moving on. But he was flagging now, the spikies would surely catch up eventually.

The Ninetails swung through several trees before collapsing onto another branch.

"Must…have been…a sedative on some of those spikes," he murmured, seeing his vision fog before him. "Can't go…too much further…"

The chattering screams of the spikies grew louder. Naruto pulled himself into a standing position.

"Got to keep fighting," he murmured thickly. "Can't…release…Ninetails…" But the blackness was eating at the corners of his eyes…

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The Panther was trotting now, knowing he must be getting close to the source of the arm now. It wound a torturous path: how could anyone have had control over it over such a long distance? The arm had woven through a lot of trees, leading further into the shadows of the night forest.

A rustle from a clearing up ahead made the bleeding Panther freeze. Was this the mysterious attacker? Keeping his chokoto at the ready, he crept into the clearing. What he saw nearly made him fall over.

Naruto was standing over the dead body of his attacker!

"Hey, teme, long time no see," Naruto said, rounding the body. Sasuke saw the flash of a kunai in the Naruto's hand. He raised the chokoto painfully.

"Get back!"

_SHING!_

The Naruto in front of the Panther tottered, then fell faceforward, revealing a kunai lodged in the small of his back. Yet another Naruto emerged from the shadows!

"You alright, Panther?" the new Naruto said. Sasuke's eyes traveled from the dead Ninetails on the ground to the one standing across the glade, confusion clear in his black eyes. With a puff of purple smoke, the dead Naruto disappeared, leaving a different body in its place. At the same time, the dead body of Sasuke's attacker disappeared, leaving nothing on the loamy ground.

"Wha-what?" Sasuke stammered, staggering as his left arm released another spurt of blood.

"I'm Naruto's clone," the new Naruto said. He motioned at the clearing. "Looks like you ran into a spot of trouble, too. From the looks of it" –he pointed- "the person who attacked you made a clone of himself and killed it, then transformed into Naruto, hoping to kill you. Brilliant plan."

Now it all made sense. The Naruto who was dead now had been the person who had controlled the two metal arms. Sasuke prodded the limp arm of his attacker with his foot.

"That's odd…he doesn't look human. He looks almost like a cross between a wolf, a robot, and a human."

Then the impact of Naruto's clone's words hit the Panther.

"Did you say that Naruto's in a spot of trouble, _too_??"

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Another body…that made thirty-six at the base of his tree. The sticky kunai slid from Naruto's limp hand. The snarling face of a spikey reared in front of him, but the Ninetails had no strength left to stop it. It was going to tear his face off…

Naruto noticed vaguely that the face of the spikey wasn't there anymore as he slipped off the tree branch and fell down…down…down…

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Sasuke and the clone of Naruto hurtled through the trees, moving as fast as they could to intercept the Ninetails.

"He might have unleashed the demon already," Sasuke muttered, doing his best to stem the small ribbon of red that splattered out behind him. "If so, we'll have given ourselves away…hold on, Naruto! Don't let the demon go!"

Out of the corner of his eye, the Panther saw the clone vanish in a puff of orange smoke. He swore mentally, increasing his speed even though his muscles screamed in protest.

_Naruto…you can't be dead…NARUTO!_

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**How's this for the action? More to come in the next chapter! Who saved the Ninetails? Will the Panther make it in time to help his partner? Will they be discovered by the Snake Lord, or will they get away in time?**


	10. Tied to the Table and Other Such Issues

"Hey, he's awake," a voice droned. Naruto's eyelids flickered, then snapped open as they caught the glow from a fire.

"Don't move," a female voice advised. "Your wounds haven't quite closed yet."

The Ninetails fell back against the trunk, willing his eyes to stop blurring and focus on the two people by the fire.

"What do you think, Shika, is he going to be alright?" the girl spoke again.

"He'll be fine, Ino," the lazy voice spoke again. "We got to him just in time. Any longer and the spinehogs' sedative would have proved too much for his system."

"But he was glowing orange when we got to him," a third voice argued. "Wouldn't he have been fine on his own?"

"Dunno," the first voice said dully.

Naruto's eyes finally obeyed him and focused on the three people sitting around the fire. There was a blond girl leaning against a tree, a fat boy sitting by the fire roasting something over it on a spit, and a second young man sitting with his back against a tree.

"Hey, Ninetails. Long time no see," the man named Shika said. Naruto smiled.

"How's it going for you, Lazy Genius?"

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The Panther flew through the trees alone, picking up speed as he went. Time was running out – he had to find the Ninetails fast. If word got to the Snake Lord that ANBU was scouting out his tower, everything would be ruined.

His chokoto was cutting branches out of the way, leaving a trail clear as daylight showing where he had been. His clothing was torn, showing glimpses of the powerful, bleeding body beneath. The wound in his arm had slowly settled down to a slow, sluggish trickle, but he had lost a lot of blood.

If Naruto was injured, they would have to get out of here. As soon as was physically possible.

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"I told you, my name's NOT Lazy Genius," Shikamaru groaned. "It's Stag."

"Not Stagman? Not Stagboy? Not Stagbeetle? Just Stag?" Naruto teased. The girl hit him over the head.

"Baka. Even injured, you can't resist teasing people, can you?"

Naruto rubbed his head. "You can't resist injuring me further, as always, eh, Cat?"

The girl known as Cat winked at him. "I can't believe you remembered my name, Ninetails. It's been a while, eh?"

"Ino-pig," Naruto mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?" Cat snarled.

"Eh, nothing," Naruto said hastily. "Hey, Bear."

"Ninetails." The Bear was busy finishing roasting some nondescript bird over his fire.

"Will you put that thing out?" Stag hissed. "Someone could see that!"

"Like me," a deeper voice growled. "What are you doing with my partner?"

The Cat spun around, a flirting smile on her face.

"Why, hello, Black Panther!" she cooed. The Panther ignored her and strode over to the Ninetails, sheathing his chokoto as he went.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"No, in fact, teme, they saved my life!" Naruto sounded indignant.

"Oh my gosh, Panther – what happened to your arm!" the Cat shrieked.

"It's nothing." The Panther tried to cover his wound, but tottered instead. The Stag leapt to his feet as the Panther bent double, coughing up blood.

"Dude, that's not good. Are you injured?"

The Ninetails rose to his feet and caught the Panther just as the Panther collapsed. "Don't worry, guys, I've got him," he said, looping one of the Panther's arms over his shoulder. "We're supposed to be out of here, anyway. Thanks for everything!"

With a rustle and a grunt, the Ninetails and Black Panther were gone.

"Hmph." The Cat flopped down next to the fire. "And I wanted to talk to the Panther more."

"Ino, you've already tried to copy his name," Shikamaru said, sitting back down again. "Don't follow him around, too. He can't do his work that way."

"But he got hurt!" Ino insisted. "If he'd only let me treat him…"

"You'd only end up flirting with him and his muscles," Chouji the Bear said from over by the fire. "Or doing something worse to him with your mind powers." Ino sniffed.

"Hmph. It's not like YOU have any muscle to speak of, _Bear._"

"Ino, knock it off." Shikamaru rose. "We were sent here for recon, too, and we have a job to do. Let's split up and meet on the other side of the tower. Don't forget to be wary – you saw what happened to the Panther and the Ninetails. Alright, see you over there!"

The Cat, the Bear, and the Stag split up and set out on the same mission that the Ninetails and Black Panther had just completed.

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"Oh my gosh!" Sakura cried as Naruto came in her door with Sasuke's body over one shoulder. "What happened?!"

Naruto hurried Sasuke into the living room, cleared the table with one sweep of his hand, and laid his partner on it.

"We were attacked," he explained while Sakura grabbed what she needed. "He got the worst of it, I think. I'm still not sure what attacked him.

Sakura winced as she examined the gash on Sasuke's left arm. "Whatever got him got him good."

"I'm sure he gave back as good as he got," Naruto said firmly. Sakura began cleaning out the wounds with warm water.

"Naruto, look in the cabinet next to the sink. There should be an ointment in there that will help."

Together, Naruto and Sakura stitched together what they could. Sakura laid her head on Sasuke's chest, listening to his heartbeat and judging from the echoes in the rib cage what sort of damage had been done.

"He'll be fine," she said when she lifted her head. "He's taken some internal damage, but thankfully, it's not too bad. If we bind his chest and keep him from moving too much, he'll heal."

When Sasuke awoke, his entire chest was wound across with white bandages. His head hurt like hell and his body felt like it was on fire.

"So you're up, teme."

Sasuke turned his head slightly to see Naruto sitting in front of their computer. Immediately, Sasuke tried to sit up.

"What happened? Where are the Cat, the Stag, and the Bear? Where are…AARGH!" He fell back, unable to get upright. Naruto sniggered as Sasuke struggled.

Between them, Sakura and Naruto had managed to tie Sasuke to the table.

"KUSO! What are you doing?!" Sasuke snarled. "Untie me, NOW!"

"Sorry, Sasuke," a soft voice interjected. Sakura emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. "If you want to get better, you have to stay down. Naruto assured me you never would, so I took the liberty and" –she gestured- "tied you to the table."

Sasuke fell back, exhausted. Before he could move, Sakura was at his side, injecting something through a needle into his arm. Sasuke jumped.

"What the-"

"It's a sedative," Sakura said while Naruto sniggered. "It'll keep you down."

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort, but black waves of sleep were softly washing over him. His last thought before his eyes closed was: _how on earth could I have let those two do this to me?_

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It took a full twenty days for Sasuke to heal. By the time he was better, he and Naruto had already formulated another plan to check out the Snake Lord's Tower. Sakura had done her best to persuade them otherwise, but Sasuke would not be convinced.

"It was our mission," he would repeat stubbornly whenever she pestered him about it. "We have to fulfill it." And Sakura knew that when Sasuke was determined to do something, that was the end of that.

The date of the next surveillance was determined when the news returned from ANBU headquarters. Top chemists at ANBU had researched Sarutobi's potion and discovered that it was actually a perpetual youth formula. Naruto stared as the printer spat out page after page of analysis for them to read. Sasuke skimmed the report and came up with some surprising information.

"Sarutobi was dabbling in eternal youth drugs?" he said, confused. "But this drug isn't a take-and-go, you have to keep taking doses…"

"Sorry?" Naruto asked. Sakura took the analysis from Sasuke, read it through swiftly, and gave Naruto the summary which Sasuke was withholding.

"Sarutobi apparently developed a formula that, if taken, would allow the drinker to remain, well…forever young. Immortal, in other words. It halts the aging process, as far as I can tell. Anyway, this drug had to be taken multiple times, once you were on it, you couldn't stop drinking it, or else you'd get old and die. Even if that is a handicap, that still makes this potion absolutely priceless."

"It sure does!" Naruto said, winking at her. "I wouldn't mind some of this eternal youth stuff myself!"

"Baka," Sasuke said, belting Naruto a good one over the head, "it's dangerous. People will kill to get their hands on this sort of thing. That's why we have to be careful with it."

"I thought we didn't have it anymore!" Sakura said, confused. Sasuke pulled something out from under his shirt. Strung on a chain was a small vial filled partway with black liquid. Sakura gasped.

"You KEPT some!! But that's…that's…"

"Illegal, I know, but it might be a valuable bargaining chip," Sasuke said calmly, tucking it down his shirt again. "If someone's desperate to get this, we could set up a trap revolving around this as the bait."

"And that's your master plan?" Naruto sneered. Sasuke turned back to the desk, where he was polishing his chokoto.

"Actually, yes."

Naruto choked on the mouthful of juice from the glass Sakura had just handed him.

"Are you INSANE?!?!" he bellowed. "We go AFTER the bad guys, not give ourselves OVER to them!!"

"Exactly. And that's why they won't suspect this," Sasuke continued calmly. "It's foolproof."

Little did he know how wrong he was.

"Oh, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, finishing the last of his juice, "I finally got you your present!"

Sakura came back from the kitchen, looking interested. "Oh, how sweet. You didn't have to, you know."

"Hey, you're our host AND our friend," Naruto argued. "Sasuke owes you his life twice! Anyway, I got you something you might like."

He pulled something small and flat out of his pocket. "Here it is!"

Sakura stared.

"A gift card to Ichiraku's?"

"That's RIGHT, dattebayo!" Naruto cheered. "And you can take me with you!"

Sakura smiled as she took the card. "Thanks, Naruto. Maybe I will, we'll see."

"Now it's teme's turn," Naruto said excitedly. "Come on, teme, what didja get her?"

Sasuke frowned, still bent over his chokoto. "Naruto, I'm busy."

"But it's Sakura-chan's birthday present!" Naruto whined. Sasuke sighed.

"Hnn. Fine."

He spun around in the swivel chair, landing lightly on his feet. Rummaging in his pocket, he took several steps toward Sakura. Her jade eyes landed on the small black box on his palm. Trembling slightly, she took the box from his hand. It was smooth and velvety. His hand went back to his pocket as he stared down at her, waiting for her to open it. Unable to breathe, Sakura lifted the lid.

"You didn't…!"

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**Hmm…what did Sasuke give Sakura for her birthday? Sorry for the short chappie, but I just picked up where I dropped this one off, and I've got to get back in the groove. I'm working on it! lol sorry for the short chappie. I couldn't think of any better names for the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, so there you go. Ladidadidah I'm gonna go write some more now… -wink-**


	11. Sasuke's Gift

"Sasuke, it's beautiful!"

Her slender fingers slid gently under the chain, and Sakura lifted a pendant on a necklace from the red silk lining of the small black box. The pendant was made of silver, with a jet stone set in the center. It shone like a liquid, glistening in the light from the phosphorus strips set in the ceiling of the Panther's Lair.

"The clasp's a bit tricky," she heard Sasuke say. Indeed, it was: she had never seen anything like that clasp before, it looked as though someone had designed it to make sure the necklace could not be taken off.

Suddenly Sasuke's hand took her wrist, and his other hand gently lifted the necklace from her palm. With a panther's grace and agility, he slid behind her, drawing the chain around her neck. Sakura froze as she felt his warm hands working the clasp at the base of her neck, his breath slightly stirring the top of her hair. It took him a moment, but finally, Sasuke stepped back.

"Geez, Sakura-chan, it DOES look good on you," Naruto admitted. "But I still think a trip to Ichiraku's is better."

Sakura flashed a smile at both of them. "Thank you so much, guys! You really brightened up my twenty-first birthday."

"Hnn." Sasuke returned to his work, satisfied that he had completed his task.

"No problem!" Naruto cheered. Sakura suddenly had the breath crushed out of her as Naruto grabbed her in a big hug. He was strong – stronger than he looked on the outside.

"Dobe, you might want to let Sakura go if you don't want her to asphyxiate," Sasuke said dully, concentrating on his chokoto blade. Naruto let Sakura go with a stream of apologies.

"That's OK," Sakura gasped, feeling the air return to her lungs. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Alright, what do you guys want for dinner?"

"Ichirak-"

"Spaghetti."

Naruto and Sakura both turned to stare at their stoic companion. Sasuke didn't even look up, still wearing away his blade to a paper's thickness while he talked.

"It's good, it's simple, and it's filling. So spaghetti."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. "Can we at least make it with ramen noodles?"

"Spaghetti." Sasuke was firm. Sakura rolled her eyes and went to prepare the meal while Naruto yelled at Sasuke and Sasuke polished and retorted only when he felt like it.

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"Well, Sakura-chan, looks like we're set to go!" Naruto said in excitement as the last of the bandages fell off of Sasuke's chest. Sakura ran her hands across his broad back, running a final examination. She sighed.

"You're set, Sasuke. Those gashes have closed, and your side's all better."

Sasuke pulled his shirt back on and slid off the table. "All the better, we're heading out tonight."

"TONIGHT?!?!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke glared at him.

"Hush up, dobe, you'll alert the other tenants. Yes, we're going back tonight. We've got to find out who it was that attacked us and why. Now shut up and get ready to go."

"B-but Sasuke-kun," Sakura protested, "you just healed up! You'll probably get hurt aga-"

Sasuke whirled around and slammed her, albeit gently, against the wall.

"Look, Sakura," he said, staring deep into her eyes. "No, look at me." Sakura had tried to avoid eye contact. His black, deep eyes were like the jet stone he had given her: so liquid and soulful, so rich to look into…

"I'm a superhero," Sasuke said softly. "I have powers that others can only dream of. I've been trained in how to use my powers. I'm the Black Panther, whose job is to keep ordinary people, people like _you_, safe. What happens to me doesn't matter, it's your safety, the world's safety, that comes before my own. Not another word about me, do you understand?"

His eyes carried the real message: _I'm doing this for you, and for all mankind. You're an obstacle I have to set aside._

Sakura looked at him for one long moment, concern and knowledge of the greater good fighting in her eyes. Then slowly, clearly, she nodded. Sasuke released her.

"Good. Now I have to get ready, too."

Minutes later, Sakura stood at the window, waiting for Sasuke and Naruto to jump out her window and leave. Naruto winked at her as he perched on the windowsill.

"Don't worry about us, Sakura-chan, we'll be fine, dattebayo!"

"Go ahead, Ninetails," the Panther ordered. "I'll follow shortly."

"See ya at the Tower!" The Ninetails flew off the sill, leaping from building to building. Sasuke and Sakura watched him go. The Panther allowed Sakura to take a step forward, putting herself between him and the window as she watched Naruto go. His black eyes calculated his best chance. His moment was here…

"Sakura."

She spun around, staring at the place where he had been. Sasuke was too quick, he slipped behind her into her blindspot.

"I'm sorry."

Sakura gasped as, with lightning speed, the Panther struck her a glancing blow on the back of her head! She tottered for a moment, then crumpled at his feet. Glancing out the window to be sure the Ninetails couldn't see him, the Panther lifted the unconscious girl and carried her into her bedroom. He laid her out on her bed and stared for a moment at the jetstone gleaming on her neck.

"It can't be helped," he murmured. And with a single backward glance, the Panther closed the door on his unconscious host, leapt out the window, and set off for the Snake Lord's Tower.

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"What took you so long, teme?" the Ninetails asked as the Panther came up to him. His partner grunted.

"Small business."

"Well, it's about ti-" Naruto was cut off midsentence by the heavy hilt that crashed down on his skull. The Sasuke clone vanished in a puff of blue smoke, the real Sasuke stepping aside from his teammate's prone body. He bent over, tucking something in the pocket of Naruto's jumpsuit.

"That'll explain it," Sasuke muttered. He stared down at the Ninetails, who was drooling as if he was asleep. "I hate to do this to you, Ninetails, but I'm the only one who can do this." He pulled the vial on the chain from around his neck, clenching it in his fist.

"It's time to see what the Snake Lord's Tower looks like from the inside."

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The Black Panther sped through the trees, flying towards the tower in the center of the woods. The base of the tower had about seventy feet of woodland cleared away before it. Once he left the shelter of the trees, he would definitely be seen coming. Sasuke put a hand to his chest, feeling the tiny bump the small vial under his clothing formed. He grinned.

"Never underestimate a panther. I'll outwit you all!" His bravado faded as he saw the entrance to the tower, a great iron door wrought with images of writhing snakes. The Black Panther crouched in the underbrush, plotting and planning, even now.

_Once I get inside that fortress, I'll need all my wits about me. I can't take chances, letting Naruto tag along. Or Sakura, they'll all understand from that note I left. I'll go straight for the Snake Lord himself and see if I can sell him this vial. Once he's got it, ANBU won't have to worry about him anymore._

Sasuke was so distracted by his plans that he didn't notice the rattling underbrush until it was too late. Without warning, two of those same metal arms shot out from nowhere and grabbed him!

The Panther yelled as he was forced out into the open, which was suddenly lit brilliantly with spotlights from the tower. Shadowy shapes flung themselves from the surrounding undergrowth, lining the edge of the area before the tower. Sasuke's pupils dilated, confused by the sudden change in light. The things that were holding him grabbed his arms and forced them behind his back, making him bend over in pain. Something cracked; Sasuke had to bite his lip to stop himself from yelling in agony. Something thin and sharp jabbed his back, he didn't want to think about what that was. The gates were opening and someone was emerging…the Panther tried to focus, but darkness was eating at the corners of his eyes. The silhouette from the tower approached him, heralded by a melee of barking, scratching, howling, and baying from the shadowy figures around the edges of the clearing. There were human overtones to those voices…

"Ssso, you returned," the silhouette spoke softly, bending over the Panther's form. "How nicce. I've caught me a Panther, haven't I?" He chuckled softly. "And how sssweet – he'ss brought me a present."

The last thing Sasuke's conciousness gleaned before he lost his grip on it and the soporific claimed him was the sensation of being caressed by something slimy and wet.

A tongue.


	12. The Ugly Truth

"Unnh, my HEAD!" Naruto groaned. He shifted his hand, it landed in something congealed and sticky.

"Yuck!" He came awake with a jolt. "SASUKE! What…why…where…"

The forest around him was completely deserted. The Ninetails picked himself up, wiping his pooled drool off on his sleeve.

"That's disgusting. How long was I out?"

He looked around again. There was no light except the scant gleam from the waning moon. A breeze ruffled the leaves on the trees like feathers being preened. Their glossy undersides turned over, providing only more confusion to Naruto's aching head.

"TEME! Where are you?!" he called. Turning around, the Ninetails saw the evidence lying plain in the loam: there was a piece of paper in the indent he had made. Naruto bent, picked it up, and unfolded it. His eyes widened as he scanned the contents.

"Oh, no…KUSO! Chikuso, Sasuke-teme, what the heck were you thinking?!"

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_Naruto and Sakura,_

_If you are reading this, I am most likely inside the Snake Lord's tower. You are not to follow me, you are not to alert ANBU. I am doing this because I believe it may be our best chance of stopping the Snake Lord from destroying the city while looking for that potion._

_I will hand over the potion to the Snake Lord as a "smuggler" of sorts, but I have replaced the potion in the vial with a potent poison. If I succeed, the Snake Lord will be dead in twenty-four hours. I have hidden the real potion somewhere safe, someplace I believe only I can find._

_You may wonder how I linked the attacks and the Snake Lord together. Well, on the night that Naruto and I were attacked while on surveillance, one of our enemies disguised himself as Naruto to try and fool me, making a clone of himself to act as a dead body. When I killed him, the body vanished in a puff of purple smoke. PURPLE, Naruto. We've been missing the clues all along. If we had read a little further into those clones, we would have had it. His clones vanish in purple, and every clone we've met goes up in the exact same shade of purple. As to how he found us: the Snake Lord was once a member of ANBU himself, he can hack into their files and come up with what we look like and where we're located. That's how his clones and agents found us. _

_I also found out more about the exploits the Snake Lord conducted while in ANBU. He's a geneticist with a thirst to live forever. Those two traits combined make him impossibly dangerous. _

_Naruto, you now know why I couldn't afford to take you along. You would have lost it, and besides, the Snake Lord might find you a fascinating subject of study. And Sakura, a superhero's first duty is always towards the people._

_I have no expectations of making it out alive. I most likely will die in this venture, but if I survive, you can be sure I will find you. The real potion, again, is hidden somewhere safe: make sure you are the ones to find it first. Naruto, be sure ANBU finds you the right partner, and Sakura-_

_Happy birthday._

_The Black Panther- Sasuke Uchiha_

"This is all he left?!" Sakura cried. Naruto nodded solemnly.

"When I came to, he was gone."

Sakura stared out the window. "So that explains why he knocked both you and me out," she said miserably. "But why me?"

"Maybe he knocked you out to hide the potion somewhere in the apartment," Naruto suggested. Sakura shuddered.

"Well, for whatever reason he did it, it doesn't change the fact that Sasuke's missing! Shouldn't you alert Kakashi, or ANBU?"

"They'll find out in due time," Naruto said quietly. "In the meantime, you and I will have to wait it out here."

"But we can't just sit back!" Sakura cried. "We have to find-"

"SSH!" Naruto clapped a hand over her mouth, silencing her as he listened intently. The scuffling sound came again. Leaving Sakura in the living room, Naruto crept into the kitchen, drawing a kunai as he did so. There was a shadow in the light from under the door. The scuffling came one more time, then the footsteps moved away.

Sakura let out the breath she'd been holding in as Naruto flung open the door to find no one in the hallway. He turned back to her.

"We're not safe yet," Naruto said grimly, ripping something off the door. Sakura gasped as Naruto yanked a kunai out of her front door and tossed it with a clatter on the table, alongside a crudely scrawled note.

_We have the Panther. Don't try anything stupid, or he disappears. Permanently._

Sakura gasped. "Naruto, what do we DO?!"

"I don't know," Naruto said miserably, flopping into one of the kitchen chairs. "I just don't know."

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Blood…the taste of blood in his mouth…

Slowly, conciousness surfaced and the soporific slid away. The Panther groaned as he felt his broken rib scrape against his side. And Sakura said it had just finished healing, too…

"Well, well, our guessst of honor isss awake," the snake-like voice from last night hissed. Sasuke wished he'd shut up, the voice was splitting his head open. He tried to put his hand to his face, to cover his burning eyelids with the cool darkness of his palm...

And found that he couldn't. His arms were spread-eagled, suspended above his head and to either side. His legs were pinned the same way, making him an X on the wall.

The Panther was chained.

"Heheh, clever plan, boy. You thought you'd poisson me, eh?"

Poison? What was this man talking about? The poison in place of the potion? How had he found out about that? Then he noticed that the vial on the chain around his neck was gone – had that been what this man had called a "present" last night?

"It'sss a good thing I make my henchmen tessst all my potionsss before I take them," the sinuous voice continued. "Poor Kabuto…he worked so hard to find you, too. He even confronted you oncce for my preccious potion, but failed, didn't he?"

Sasuke's blurred eyes took in the prodding of a purple-clad body with silver hair: the man who had come to the apartment and tried to take the potion! The Snake Lord kicked the prostrate body with his toe again.

"Ah, well, who needsss him when I have sssomeone asss interesssting ass you to examine?" The Snake Lord rose, coming around the table he had been sitting at to stand in front of the chained Panther.

"A sssuperhero…I wass one myssself oncce. Nothing too fancccy, I assure you. Jusst a little genetic manipulation here, a little cross-breeding there, and I wasss on the path to immortality!"

Orochimaru paused to lick his lips with his extremely long tongue – too long to be natural, Sasuke realized.

"But no matter how long you make the life of the sssoul, my Sasuke, the body will eventually rot away and die." He chuckled ominously. "Imagine, a body with flesssh jussst peeling off the bonesss, eyesss falling out of ssockets, and all manner of decay, and yet it isss not dead? Gruesssome, no? The sssoul deserves a fit body to house it. And I can ssshow you the way, Sasuke."

Orochimaru's fingers began to snake towards Sasuke's face. The Panther's sixth sense warned him of some imminent danger in those reaching hands. He recoiled, trying to force his stupefied body to respond, to move with that grace that was the panther in him. But those snake-like eyes, those pale fingers were stronger than he…

And Orochimaru's fingertips touched Sasuke's temples, and the world burst apart in a red explosion of agony.

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"So this Snake Lord guy was once a superhero?" Sakura asked. Naruto nodded, frantically surfing the ANBU net.

"Yeah – he stayed pretty low, though, but he had connections with the Jumping Monkey. Sarutobi was his overseer, actually."

"So what made him go evil?" Sakura asked. Naruto shrugged.

"Who knows? The thirst for power claims most of them. Look here: it says that the Snake Lord dabbled in genetics and is thought to be lurking among his own creations in the Tower? Why didn't they tell us this sooner?"

"They didn't tell you?" Sakura frowned. Naruto permitted himself a fleeting smile.

"I'm hacking into the confidential files: desperate measures call for desperate remedies."

"Oh."

"Now, let's see…no way!"

"What?" Sakura cried. Naruto gestured.

"It looks like they've got blueprints, sketchy they may be, in the ANBU system!"

"Are we going to go after him?" Sakura asked eagerly. Naruto looked at her with his steady blue gaze.

"Do you think I'm just going to let the teme rot in there? You can bet that necklace he gave you that we're going after him."

Sakura glanced down at Sasuke's birthday present. She held it up and allowed the light to strike it.

"Isn't it weird?" she murmured.

"Isn't what weird?" Naruto asked.

"Sasuke wished me happy birthday in his note," Sakura pointed out. "If he was so concerned about stopping this Snake Lord, why would he bother to focus on something as trivial as my birthday?"

"Dunno, Sasuke's strange that way," Naruto said, typing as fast as his fingers would allow. "Who knows what he was thinking?"

"Who knows, indeed," Sakura said softly, cupping the jetstone in her hand. Strange: no matter how long she clenched it, the stone would never absorb the heat from her hand.

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Cold, so cold, the smooth feeling of snake skin wrapping around him, filling him, becoming part of him…

He was mummified in the snake's body, unable to move, his eyelids glued open as he was forced to walk those painful roads again.

_Various flickers and colors of early childhood flashed by, then a scene materialized from the jumble, like ripples in a pool settling and restoring the pool to its earlier smoothness._

_Two brothers, one much older than the other, stood in the courtyard of a huge house. The older one was doing something with his hands, seconds later, the whole world plunged into an illusion. The younger brother lost sight of his older sibling, wandered for what seemed like years, calling for him, calling pitifully for help…_

_When the illusion faded, the older brother had grown taller, more sinister. Perhaps it was the victorious way he stood, perhaps it was the bodies he stood over. The younger brother fell to the floor screaming as another sensation gripped him, begged his brother to tell him that this was an illusion, too. But the older disappeared, leaving the younger brother alone with the two bodies of his parents in a sea of flying rags…_

_Then black. A thick blackness, like a slice had been cut out of the shifting scenes. When it finally faded, the younger brother had grown taller, handsomer, stronger. His muscles were like whipcords under his young skin, his body pushed to the limit of youth. He was standing next to a young boy about his age, one with golden hair, looking out across the smoking ruins of a city…_

_**The snake seemed to be choosing his memories like one chose cassette tapes: flinging the ones he didn't want aside. The scene faded inside itself, the boy with blonde hair replaced by the older brother. The younger brother's screams for mercy, for reality, echoed off the walls and caverns of memory. The light flashed off a falling sword, the crows and birds of the illusion became real. There was no place to hide…no place to run…only scream, scream, scream for a hope that would never come.**_

_**And above it all, the snickering sound of triumphant laughter mingled with the older brother's triumphant sneer and howl of victory so that the two became one…**_

Orochimaru's fingers left Sasuke's temples. The Panther choked, spitting out a mixture of blood and bile. His dark eyes shone with disbelief as he realized that the yells he was hearing were issuing from his own mouth. With an effort, he closed his mouth and ended the cry. Orochimaru cackled.

"You ressssponded well, Sasuke-kun."

_Sasuke-kun…someone else called me that,_ something inside him said. There was a flurry of pink before the snake skin suppressed it. Try as he might, the Panther could not summon an image of the person who had called him 'Sasuke-kun' before this. The snake skin mold around his soul stirred, reminding him that it was still there.

_HOW?!? I thought he LEFT me!_

"Not quite," Orochimaru said, smirking at the confused look on his captive's face. "I've left a little something for you inside yourself. Don't worry…in time, it'll _grow on you._" And, still snickering, the Snake Lord strode away, leaving the Black Panther to wrestle with the memory suppression drug inside him.

_NO, YOU CAN'T TAKE MY MEMORIES!!!! I CAN'T LET YOU…I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER THIS! _

_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!_


	13. Operation Save the Black Panther!

"Are you sure it's OK if I come?" Sakura asked for the umpteenth time. Naruto nodded impatiently.

"Sakura-chan, it's been three days since he disappeared. We've been planning and preparing, and I'm not going there without your help. Besides, they may have put the teme under some sort of memory-suppressing drug, but a strong enough stimulus should break him out of it. And I think you could be that stimulus."

There was just one problem in all these plans that Sakura had foreseen: if Sasuke was dead, then they were almost certainly walking to their own deaths. If he was alive, damaged, but alive, they stood some chance of getting out.

"Here." Naruto handed her something. It was made of black material, sleek and shiny. Sakura fingered it quizzically.

"What's this?"

Naruto went back to rummaging through their supplies to make sure they had what they needed. "It's a jumpsuit. You'll wear it tonight, when we go after Sasuke."

Sakura let the material slide through her fingers. It was obviously supposed to be formfitting, allowing her freedom of movement. In fact, it looked a lot like the one Sasuke had worn as the Black Panther. Naruto was already in his orange and black outfit, ready to depart as the Ninetails. He straightened up, fastening the shuriken holder on his thigh. Sakura had already bound hers to her leg. She looked at Naruto quizzically. He nodded.

"It's time to go!"

Sakura gasped slightly as Naruto picked her up as easily as if she was a feather. Holding her tightly in his arms, he leapt out the window and flew off through the city, bouncing from building to building. Sakura clung tightly to him, afraid of falling, though she needn't have worried. The Ninetails would never have let her go.

Naruto was swift, even with his extra burden. Within the hour, he laid Sakura down in the undergrowth near the base of the tower. Together, the medical student and the superhero surveyed the huge tower before them, wondering if their friend and partner was even alive inside.

"So how are we going to get in?" Sakura whispered. Naruto pulled something from his pouch and showed it to her.

"These are smoke bombs," he said. "We'll create a nice little diversion in the woods over there, I ran into some…creatures last time that ought to help out," the Ninetails said grimly. "Now stay low and wait here, I'll be back shortly."

Sakura crouched down in the loam as the Ninetails took off into the trees and shot off like a rocket. She glanced at the watch she'd brought along: fifteen minutes had passed already. Was Naruto almost done?

Suddenly, a loud explosion echoed out of the forest to her right. Sakura bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. The explosion was followed by several more, and the ground began to tremble. Thick smoke, black in the moonlight, billowed from the forest. The entire right side of the Snake Lord's Tower was suddenly eerily lit by the oily flames that erupted. A faint, chirruping cry came from the forest: a sort of war call. It multiplied and grew louder and louder.

Suddenly, the brush rustled and Naruto returned to Sakura's side. He winked at her.

"Operation Enter the Snake Lord's Tower is now officially under way."

As if on cue, the huge gates to the tower burst open and a number of strange looking creature-humans poured out. Sakura stared as men who seemed to be growing fur and horns set off through the forest, looking for the cause of the disturbance. Naruto tugged on her sleeve.

"Come on!"

Together, they ran across the open ground, hidden by the shadows of the night. The great gates were closing, Sakura and Naruto barely squeezed through them in time, Naruto winced as he lost a strip of his sleeve to the massive doors. Sakura suddenly heard footsteps: someone was coming! 

"Quick, over here!" she hissed. The two dove behind a huge pillar just in time: two of the strangely armored guards passed by them. Holding their breath, the two friends tiptoed out from behind the column and headed in the opposite direction.

Neither had any idea where they were going, they were dependent on the scanty blueprints ANBU had, which quickly proved to be useless. Wandering the metal corridors awash with Orochimaru's strange creations, Naruto and Sakura began to fear that they might be lost forever in the maze that was the tower.

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The drug had done its work. Orochimaru leered as the eyes that were once black gazed at him, full of nothing now but hatred.

"Well? Hasss my drug worked itsss magic yet?" he asked his captive. The raven-haired young man nodded.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha, the avenger. I must destroy he who killed my family, and to do so, I must have power!"

Orochimaru licked his lips, pleased with the results that his memory suppression technique was handing him.

"And who can give you power?"

The hatred in Sasuke's morphed eyes did not dim, but an added element of worship entered them.

"Only you, Orochimaru. You showed me my true calling, showed me my ignorance and blindness. I have been awakened, and you can fulfill my true purpose!"

Orochimaru threw back his head and laughed. "It worked! It worked!" His snake-like pupils pierced the strange ones of the new Sasuke before him. "Your memoriesss of jussstice are now gone, and I have birthed in you a dessssire to dessstroy Akatsssuki for another purposse!"

"Tell me." Sasuke's voice now had a sharper edge, a crueler pitch. "Tell me how to gain true power, Orochimaru!"

Orochimaru gestured. "I have many ways, but first, you must be transformed into one of us."

"Show me."

"There is a liquid you must immerse yourself in, for one like you, two yearsss, perhaps," Orochimaru said thoughtfully. "I sssave it only for my bessst fightersss. Once you have ssspent a sssufficent amount of time in my special "fermentation chamber", you will be prepared for unexcelled power."

"Take me there." Sasuke's voice was harsh, every word a command. Orochimaru's lips curved into a smile.

"Then follow me, Sasuke-kun."

_That Sasuke-kun again. WHO called me that? Pink…pink…_

_**No. Those memories have been suppressed. Think about Itachi: Itachi and Itachi alone. He must DIE!**_

_Power…I must have power…but why do I always think of pink?_

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Passage after passage after passage…Naruto and Sakura had climbed stairs, crawled through pipes, hunted through every level they had encountered so far. And nothing. They had gone through so many levels that they could now anticipate the guard rotation: down the left passage, the guard pair would come in two minutes; if they took the right corridor, a set of guards would round the far end on the minute. No guard was out of rotation, it was like they were programmed to be obedient.

"Naruto, look, it's a computer port!" Sakura hissed, gesturing at a panel in the wall. Naruto hurried over.

"Do you think you could hack into the system and see where they're holding Sasuke?" Sakura asked anxiously as Naruto quickly plugged a small, portable computer into the panel. Seconds later, his screen was showing him the insides of the Snake Lord's database.

"Yeah – it says here that they've transported the Alpha Captive to the testing room floor. Alpha Captive: that has to be Sasuke!"

Sakura checked her watch. "We've got less than a minute before that next guard rotation rounds the corner."

"OK, OK, just let me find the quickest way there." Sweat rolled down Naruto's face as he typed swiftly, trying to find a way in. "Here it is! Sakura, we can take the ventilation pipes all the way there!"

Sakura squinted at her watch. "Twenty seconds, Naruto."

Naruto was trying to get his computer out of the panel. "It's not coming out! The computer's not finished, and it won't release the cord until it's finished downloading the data!"

Sakura swore. "Kuso! Naruto, we've only got ten seconds! We'll be seen!"

"I'm TRYING!"

Five…four…three…two…one…

And no guard pair. Sakura frowned.

"Where are they? They're always on time…"

"Just be glad they're not here," Naruto gritted through clenched teeth. "There! I've gotten us the surest route. Look! The nearest entrance into the ventilation system is right overhead!"

"Be careful," Sakura warned as Naruto drew a blaster gun. He winked at her as he flipped the switch settings.

"Our luck's not run out so far. Here we go!"

Two excellent shots later, the ventilation panel was hanging down from the ceiling. Sakura tested the grated structure. It looked like a square ladder hanging from the ceiling.

"Will this support our weight?"

"No time," Naruto hissed, suddenly urgent. "I think that guard pair that didn't show up is coming now!"

Sure enough, the two could see the shadows of two heavily armored guards walking down to the corner. If they rounded the bend, they would see the two friends for sure. Naruto gave Sakura a leg up into the shaft, she crawled aside to let him climb up.

"Come on!" Sakura hissed. Naruto's front was inside the shaft, but his legs were still dangling from the ceiling. He suddenly froze.

"I think they saw me!"

With a frightening strength that she didn't know she had, Sakura reached over, grabbed Naruto by the belt, and hauled him into the shaft, bringing the open grate after him. It clanged loudly as it closed. Holding their breath, Sakura and Naruto stared down through the grate. Even if the guards had missed Naruto's legs hanging from the ceiling, they almost certainly heard the noise. But the pair below marched right under the ventilation panel and disappeared as if nothing had happened.

When their footsteps had died away, Sakura let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank kami we made it out of that one!"

Naruto was consulting his small little computer. "The plans say to go this way. Come on, Sakura-chan!"


	14. The Traitor, the Liar, and the Demon

He was suspended, though not from strings or chains. No, the air in his lungs kept rushing out in a combination of oxygen and carbon dioxide, floating to the surface. And yet, he was never thirsty for a breath of air.

A tall cylinder, filled with vile yellow liquid to the top. A large, circular room, dark and metallic, with vats set bubbling in the floor and tables covered with gruesome things set in the corners. The vat sunken in the floor nearest to him was bubbling with some greenish concoction, made yellow by the solution that surrounded his body. He felt something flicker inside him…

_**You do well, Sasuke-kun, **__the snake inside him purred. __**Soon, soon, we will come from hibernation, ready to absorb power. This solution you float in will make you powerful beyond your wildest dreams!**_

_Dreams…I had a dream that I was a force for justice. That pink was somewhere in there, mixed with orange and black. A sword on my back?_

_**That was all foolish play and child's games,**__ the snake lectured. __**You know true strength, now. Train, become strong, and brood and boil in your hatred. Only then will power be yours!**_

_I feel as though I am forgetting something important…a black jetstone on a chain…what was so essential about that? It was hidden in pink, I remember that much. But why won't you let me remember the pink?_

_The snake wrapped around him, caressing his cheek with its tail. __**You are mine now, Sasuke-kun. You don't need them, you only need yourself, yourself and an ocean of hatred to drown in. Only through this death can you gain a powerful life. Empty yourself and let me fill you, that is what this liquid will allow you to do. Become an avenger bent on power, Sasuke-kun!**_

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"Here it is!" Naruto said, stopping at a grate. Sakura peered through it into a vast circular room.

"It looks like we're at the top of the tower."

The room was dimly lit, metal walls rising into shadow. There were pits sunken in the ground, all bubbling with sinister-looking potions. Operating tables and strange mechanisms lined the walls. But what stood in the center of the room caught Sakura's attention: there was a huge glass cylinder in the center of the floor, rising high into the ceiling. It was filled as far as she could see with yellow bile. And floating in this column…

"It's Sasuke!" she cried. Naruto nudged her behind him.

"Kuso, this blaster's only got two more rounds left in it," he cursed. "Should have charged the battery before we left. Stand back!"

With a burst of red light, the ventilator grate exploded! Sakura and Naruto climbed out of the smoking mess, falling several feet and landing on the floor. Naruto winced as his ankle twisted slightly and he fell heavily. Sakura, meanwhile, sprinted towards the cylinder in which the Panther was suspended.

"Sasuke!"

"Sakura! Look out!" Grimacing, Naruto pulled himself up onto his elbow and fired his last shot. Sakura flung herself aside as the cylinder cracked, then exploded from within! Yellow droplets were flung across the room, and the floor was awash with the bile of the column and the shards of glass on the floor. Ignoring it all, Sakura got to her feet and took a step towards the prostrate body on the floor.

"Sasuke?"

A low groan resounded through the room.

"NO! Sakura, get away from him!" Naruto roared, forcing himself onto his feet. Sakura hesitated.

"Why? He's not moving."

"GET BACK!!" Naruto yelled. The body on the floor laughed: a cold, cruel, low laugh. Sakura shivered and took an involuntary step back.

"S-Sasuke-kun?"

The person picked themselves up, still laughing in that strange, sinister pitch. Naruto's eyes widened in terror. Sakura raised an arm in defense, but her jade eyes were also huge in fear. Who was this?

Blue lightning radiated from his body, twisting in a double helix to the ceiling. His mask was gone, the cold, handsome features bared in a leering snarl. But his eyes: no longer their customary shade of onyx, but a fearsome hue of blood-red!

"Long time no see, Sakura," the new Sasuke leered, taking a step towards her. Sakura shuddered, recoiling.

"Who are you?" she whispered. "You're not Sasuke-kun."

"WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THE TEME?!!" Naruto roared, taking several painful steps towards his two friends. Sakura was standing next to a huge open vat that bubbled with a glowing green liquid, Sasuke still stood in the remains of his cylinder. Naruto was still near the wall, but on the edge of the boiling vat.

Sasuke laughed. "What are you talking about? I AM Sasuke!" He looked at his hands. "Orochimaru showed me my true purpose, and I have meaning at last!"

"He promised you POWER?!" Naruto asked in disbelief. "You've already got that, teme! We're here to take you back."

"Back?" Sasuke asked. "Back?! To what? What is there for me? I tell you that I am only interested in power, and that is to be found here."

"Oh, yeah?" Naruto snarled, getting into an attacking crouch. "Then I'll take you back by force if words won't work!"

"No, Naruto! We've got to give him a chance!" Sakura cried, maintaining her ground between the partners. "He's been addled by Orochimaru, you've got make him see reason!"

"Reason be damned," Naruto spat. "If he won't come quietly, I'll take him myself!"

For a moment, Sakura thought she saw a flicker of the old Sasuke in those heartless blood-red eyes, but it vanished the next second. Sasuke threw back his head and laughed. It was terrible to hear, full of cruelty, savagery, and violence.

"YOU?!? Take me? YOU, Naruto?" Sasuke cackled. "Have you forgotten already?"

Naruto took a step closer to Sasuke. Sakura shook her head, holding an arm out pleadingly to both of them.

"Please, don't fight! Sasuke, listen to him!"

Sasuke's red gaze returned to the medical student. He chuckled softly. "Naruto never told you exactly _why_ I was his partner, did he, Sakura?"

"Shut your mouth, teme," Naruto growled. Sakura's arms slowly fell to her sides as she turned to face Sasuke. Sasuke grinned triumphantly.

"The reason I was partnered with the Ninetails is because I was the only one who was strong enough to stop him, to save him from himself. He has no hope of beating me in a fight!"

"I said SHUT IT, SASUKE!" Naruto howled. Sasuke leered again.

"Not for her ears, eh, NINETAILS??" He plunged ahead recklessly. "Ever wondered why he's called that, Sakura? Ever seen his powers? NO. Why? Because they're too dangerous. When that nine-tailed fox demon inside him gets control, the Ninetails has enough power to destroy entire cities!"

Sakura froze.

"Ever heard of New Atlantis?" Sasuke asked softly. "The nuclear-powered underwater city from a few years back that blew up? Greater than Chernobyl? That was no nuclear explosion: that was a young boy from the streets who was sealed with a nine-tailed fox demon: Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto hid his face as Sakura went white. The New Atlantis Crisis: it had been the story of the century. An entire city destroyed by a whirlwind that appeared to be a nuclear explosion: and that was all the work of one person? NARUTO??

"I was one of the few strong enough to overcome the fox when the urges grew strong for Naruto," Sasuke said carelessly. "I would allow him to wound me, to see blood, sometimes even taste it. It calmed the raging beast, and if he got out of hand, I could always calm him. We were assigned one overseer and permanently paired, with orders never to release the information that Naruto was the one who destroyed New Atlantis. But I guess your little secret is out now, eh?" He grinned wickedly at Naruto.

"N-Naruto-kun," Sakura whispered, still staring at Sasuke's hate-filled eyes, "it's not true. TELL ME it's not true! Please…"

Naruto saw the light from the glowing vat glisten off the tears rolling down her cheeks. His heart broke in that moment as his lips formed the two fatal words:

"It's true."

Sasuke howled triumphantly. "You see? Naruto was a MONSTER that only I could control! And now he thinks he can face me, that liar, that double-crosser! He LIED to you, Sakura!"

In that instant, Sakura's tears stopped. Her eyes grew hard and her resolution formed.

"No," she said, loud enough to carry around the room. "No, Sasuke. Naruto never lied to me. YOU lied to us both! You…are…a…traitor!"

Sasuke's red eyes narrowed. Naruto's lips formed words, empty words of warning, a scream for caution. A black streak crossed the ground, stopping next to pink. A well-placed shove…

And Sakura's scream echoed around the room as she tumbled into the boiling vat!

"YOU MURDERER!" Naruto's roar shattered the stillness. "YOU _KILLED_ SAKURA!!"

The self-proclaimed avenger turned, his red eyes lighting with the fire of battle. "Want to join her?"

Naruto's body began to glow orange. His own blue eyes turned red, the pupils narrowed into cat-like slits.

"I'll show you why I'm called the Ninetails!"

The Black Panther crouched, glowing with blue power of his own. "Then prove yourself to me!"

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**If you're wondering why, all of a sudden, I posted three new chapters, it's because there's a celebration. I have finished the FIRST INSTALLMENT of the Black Panther series!**

**GASP! You say. Is there REALLY going to be a series! CHWAH! You got it right! Since I have the patent over this idea, I'm coming out with a Black Panther plushie, a Ninetails action figure, and a Sakura Barbie! Nah, but I am writing at least two sequels. The last sequel is going to be the culmination and solution of all the problems, the "filler" sequels in between will provide certain information vital to the advancement of the plot. So that's my long-term plan for the hopefully popular 'Black Panther' story!**

**As we speak, this particular series is already completed. I have not posted this full story, as I am waiting until I am a decent way into the first sequel. So these three chapters are your celebration, then I will slowly release the final chapters. Don't worry, they'll be on time! Like clockwork, you know me! -wink- And soon enough, you'll be getting the first sequel to _The Black Panther_, the title and summary of which I will release with the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed these last few chapters!**

**OMGs, predictions, and other sorts of reviews HIGHLY appreciated! A little secret: reviews are like a drug for me, they inspire my fingers to type faster. So the more reviews I get, the faster you will be getting the next chapters that I am holding back. I'd like to see the total number break 100 before I close the fic, but that might be too high. lol love you all!**

**-Rhulain**


	15. He Has Failed: the Bud Blossoms!

"_YOU MURDERER!" Naruto's roar shattered the stillness. "YOU KILLED SAKURA!!"_

_The self-proclaimed avenger turned, his red eyes lighting with the fire of battle. "Want to join her?"_

_Naruto's body began to glow orange. His own blue eyes turned red, the pupils narrowed into cat-like slits. _

"_I'll show you why I'm called the Ninetails!"_

_The Black Panther crouched, glowing with blue power of his own. "Then prove yourself to me!"_

The two one-time partners leapt at each other, both slamming fists into each other that glowed with condensed chakra. The impact was such that both were flung to opposite ends of the room. The Ninetails picked himself up and signed swiftly.

"EAT THIS!"

Five hundred replicas of the Ninetails, all charged with demon power, flew at the Black Panther. Moving with the speed and agility he was noted for, the Panther destroyed clone after clone after clone, not receiving a single scratch from the massed army of Ninetails. The orange glow around the Ninetails was bubbling, boiling, curving into a shape unlike any other. Two ears sprouted, a tail appeared…

And the Panther faced one of ANBU's greatest fears: the Ninetails' first form!

Back and forth, around and around, they battled. Blocking, kicking, attacking, they overturned tables, leapt over the other sunken vats, and bounced off walls in their efforts to kill each other.

Finally, Naruto flew through the air, a glowing, whistling ball of chakra clutched in his fist. The Panther lurched over to a table set far back against the wall, picking up his chokoto from where it had been laid. The shining silver blade slid from the sheath and immediately burst into crackling blue lightning. Just as the Ninetails reached the Panther, a crackling blue aura of electricity extended out around the Panther. The Ninetails yelled in pain as the electricity shot through his system, sending him flying backwards. The orange glow left his body as Naruto slid to a halt against the far wall, his body unable to carry him further.

And the Panther's head exploded in a cascade of agony, the foremost of which was a familiar voice screaming.

"NARUTO!"

_Why can't I forget? What is it about this pink that drives me insane?_

_**DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT! KILL THE ONE WHO STANDS IN YOUR WAY!**_

_The pink…it's right before my eyes…_

_**How can you be seeing it? I destroyed it!**_

"S-Sakura? You're alive?"

Naruto's unfocused eyes gazed at the familiar face before him. Tears rolled down Sakura's face as she looked down at him, hands laid on his torso.

"Oh, Naruto!"

Then he felt the pain…the pain of a heart that was slowly stopping, overridden by the electrical shock to his system. She had felt it, too, he knew it for a fact. His eyes lost their red tinge, faded back to a dimming blue.

"Sakura-chan…"

"What is it, Naruto-kun?" she whispered.

"Too bad…we never got…to go…to Ichira…rak-" Naruto's head lolled to one side, his eyes and mouth still open. Sakura screamed.

"NO! YOU CAN'T DIE, NARUTO!"

"Apparently, he can."

Sakura stopped sobbing and turned around to see Sasuke, now recovered from his mental breakdown, smirking at her again.

"It's a bit of a mystery how you stayed alive after that vat," Sasuke said carelessly, "but it doesn't matter. With the Ninetails out of the way, I can just dispatch you and be done with it."

"I've been wondering," Sakura said as she knelt by Naruto's broken body, hands still laid on him. "Why DID you hand yourself over to Orochimaru, anyway? Why betray us?"

Sasuke cocked his head to one side. "Asking questions to keep yourself alive a little longer? Well, I guess it's all for the better." He looked like a cat that was toying with a mouse. Sakura shivered.

"I didn't hand myself over," Sasuke said quietly. "I was captured, and then – Orochimaru showed me my true purpose. My older brother, Itachi, trapped me in an illusion and then killed my family. I am an avenger, hell-bent on destroying Itachi and everything he stands for, namely: Akatsuki."

_Whatever it was that Orochimaru did to him, it's addled his sense of justice,_ Sakura realized. _He's doing it because of his own personal ambitions, not for the general good._ Her mind stole back to the last thing Sasuke had said to her before he had become like this.

"_I'm a superhero," Sasuke said softly. "I have powers that others can only dream of. I've been trained in how to use my powers. I'm the Black Panther, whose job is to keep ordinary people, people like you, safe. What happens to me doesn't matter, it's your safety, the world's safety, that comes before my own. Not another word about me, do you understand?"_

And after that, Sasuke had knocked Naruto out, left him a note, and come to this dreadful place, where his plan to poison Orochimaru had failed. In that note, he'd told her again that his job was to keep ordinary people safe.

Suddenly, Sakura was jarred by recognition. Sasuke had written something else in that note, a key. He'd hidden it so Naruto couldn't find it, but made sure that Sakura could. The last thing Sasuke had said to her hadn't been about justice to the people. The last thing he had told her…

"You told me where Sarutobi's potion's REALLY hidden, didn't you?" Sakura accused him. Sasuke looked at her oddly.

"What are you talking about?"

Sakura stood up, pulling something out from under her jumpsuit. "This necklace you gave me – it wasn't just for decoration, was it?"

Sasuke's red eyes suddenly sparked. He had remembered a split second before Sakura made her declaration.

"The eternal youth potion that Orochimaru wants: it's hidden in this pendant, isn't it?"

"Give it to me." Sasuke took a threatening step forward. Sakura's brain spun wildly.

"This jet stone isn't a stone at all, it's a little glass bubble filled with the potion," she said. "You designed the clasp so that no one could take it from me without my knowledge, and you assumed I'd treasure it and keep it safe. This is what Orochimaru wants."

"GIVE IT TO ME!" Sasuke roared. Sakura's green eyes snapped.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" she screamed. And with one huge jerk, Sakura tore the chain from around her neck, clutched the pendant in her palm, and crushed the fake jet stone to dust!

Sasuke stared as black liquid mixed with a little red dripped from between her slender fingers and onto the floor.

"How…you couldn't," he muttered. "That was unbreakable, what I used to seal that potion…"

"You forgot something else, too," Sakura said quietly. "You knocked me into a vat of toxins, remember?"

Horror lit up Sasuke's eyes as he realized what he'd created.

"You can't…!"

"I am," Sakura said, her voice growing in strength. "I am what you've made me, Sasuke. I have superpowers!"

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**Dundundun! Special mention in the next chapter to anyone who can guess what they are! (I'll give you a hint: there's three, and one of them's not-so-expected.) **

**Just out of curiosity...I would be mildly interested if, after reading my stuff, you all hazarded a guess on how old I am. I don't plan on releasing that information, I just want to know at what age "level" I'm writing on, based on this stuff. Just a guess, nothing serious, another way to help me judge myself as a writer. **

**On ANOTHER note -huggles self- YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!! This chapter came out fast because I LUV U GUYS!!! Giving me 120 REVIEWS!!! -screams head off- CHWAH:) So, as a reward, I will present, sometime in the next few hours (depending on how many reviews I get when this thing jumps out), the next chapter of _The Black Panther:_**

_He who turned traitor has made his own enemy. His heartless gesture unleashed a powerful new weapon to be used against him. Behold, the battle of admirer turned opponent: SASUKE vs. SAKURA!!!_

**lol a little teaser. -wink- Ciao for now! Let's see...I need to update _Dragster, For the Love of the Game, _and start _King of Fire_. That's more than enough to do today.**

**-Rhulain**


	16. Before We Break Company: My Vow!

"_You forgot something else, too," Sakura said quietly. "You knocked me into a vat of toxins, remember?"_

_Horror lit up Sasuke's eyes as he realized what he'd created._

"_You can't…!"_

"_I am," Sakura said, her voice growing in strength. "I am what you've made me, Sasuke. I have superpowers!"_

Without warning, Sakura leapt high into the air, bringing her fist down hard on the metal floor. A huge shock wave spread from her point of impact, traveling straight for the Black Panther!

With a leap, Sasuke dodged her attack, bringing his chokoto forward for play. But Sakura had vanished!

Landing with a skid, the Panther stopped, his red eyes taking in the surroundings. His opponent had disappeared, leaving only the sounds of bubbling and the body of the Ninetails on the floor.

The chokoto was suddenly wrenched from his hand! Sasuke gasped as a hand hit him in the face. Coming up into a defensive position, he tried to fight back. But how do you spar against someone you can't see?

In desperation, Sasuke snatched a kunai and swung it in a wide arc. The gasp of pain and the hilt sticking out of nowhere told him he'd made a hit. Sakura reappeared, the kunai driven deep into her arm. She appeared shocked, unable to comprehend the fact that the Panther had just wounded her. Sasuke's hands found his chokoto once more, and he prepared to finish Sakura off with one blow. But before he could do anything…

A silver-haired, masked man appeared out of nowhere, grabbing Sakura by the waist and Naruto by the belt! He took a long look at Sasuke.

"Mark my words," Kakashi said clearly. "We aren't finished yet, Panther. ANBU WILL make you pay for this."

Suddenly, the doors to the testing room burst open. Several squads of Orochimaru's henchmen poured in, heading straight for the intruders. Kakashi glanced at them, took one last look at Sasuke, and vanished again.

Three things happened at once: Orochimaru himself turned from the tinted window set high in the wall that overlooked the testing room, satisfied with his protégé's performance. Sasuke sank to the ground, gritting his teeth as the mental agony exploded once again, his superhero self combating with the snake-like thing that Orochimaru had installed inside him; while, at the base of his neck, a strange mark began to form. And Sakura screamed as Kakashi spirited her away.

"SASUKE-KUN!"

She had no idea how long that last scream would torment him.

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"You idiots, you stupid fools," Kakashi yelled as soon as they rematerialized into yet another room. Sakura slid to the floor, trying not to cry out in pain from the kunai lodged in her arm. Naruto's body hit the ground with a dull thud as Kakashi let it go.

They had come to a place Sakura had never seen before. It was another large room, but this one was warmly lit and had a friendlier feel to it. While Kakashi bent over Naruto, Sakura ground her teeth and jerked out the kunai, knowing that it might be poisoned and thus dangerous to leave in her arm. Instantly, she felt a warm stream of blood trickle down the inside of her arm to the crook of her elbow. Remembering her medical school training, Sakura knew she had to stop the flow. She pressed her fingers hard around the wound, trying to stem the tide. It was strange – the flow seemed to stop almost immediately. Curious, Sakura dared to pull away her uninjured hand and examine her wounded arm.

There was nothing there!

Shocked, Sakura laid a hand on the small wounds she had gotten from crushing the pendant. This time, she concentrated on making the wound disappear. A greenish light built up around her fingers, then faded. Sakura looked at her whole palm, astonished.

Kakashi had seen it, too. "Sakura! Naruto's still alive!"

"He is?" Sakura vaulted over, kneeling beside her comrade.

"Did you touch him while you were in that place?" Kakashi asked quietly. Sakura nodded. "Then that's what saved his life. You have the power of healing, Sakura."

Sakura closed her eyes, concentrating on feeding her healing power into Naruto, feeling his heartbeat strengthen under her guiding hands, felt his body stirring…

"Sakura-chan! You're alive!" Naruto's cracked lips parted as he spoke. "Where's Sasuke? What's going on?"

"Relax, Naruto, you're safe now," Kakashi said softly. "Don't talk, you'll only hurt yourself." Naruto nodded and laid back.

"Sakura, tell me what happened," Kakashi instructed. "How did you get your powers?"

"Well, we got into that room," Sakura said, thinking back. "Naruto and Sasuke exchanged words, and I tried to get them to stop. Eventually, Sasuke pushed me into a vat of something or other, I don't quite know what. All I remember is falling into it, and then seeing nothing but green for a while. I guess I must have bumped into the wall of the vat, because I found a carved-out ladder in the wall. So I climbed up, and I was really tired. I could hear fighting, but couldn't see too well. And then there was this great big blue flash, which I guess was Sasuke wounding Naruto, and it sort of jolted me awake. Then I saw Naruto fall in front of me. I guess when I came out of the vat, I had already camoflauged myself, so I didn't notice until Naruto landed by me that I was invisible. And I must have just jolted back into the visible spectrum, because I remember holding Naruto, and then Sasuke told me-"

"STOP! Sakura, don't say another word!" Naruto cried. Kakashi frowned.

"Why not?" Sakura asked. Naruto closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi, but I can't let you do this to her any more." He fixed Sakura with his tired blue gaze. "He was taking your memories, Sakura."

"What?!"

"Try it," Naruto said. "Try and remember what happened after you called Sasuke a traitor."

_Green…then a black hole!_

Sakura whirled on Kakashi. "You DIDN'T!"

Kakashi shrugged. "I apologize, Sakura, but it's ANBU protocol. You can't be one of us if the memories of how you became a super weren't wiped."

Something registered with Sakura. "One of YOU?"

Kakashi nodded, getting to his feet. "With Sasuke gone, Naruto will need a new teammate. From what you've told me and from what I saw, I can see that, with a little training, you, too, might be able to keep the Ninetails in check."

"But what makes you think I'd want to be a superhero?!" Sakura burst out. "What if I WANT those memories?"

"Tell me, Sakura," Naruto asked quietly. "If you had never gotten your powers, if you had never come along, even if you still had those memories, what would you do?"

"I would go back for him," Sakura replied. "I wouldn't abandon him to that creepy Snake Lord and his weird techniques. I'd save Sasuke, no matter what."

"Exactly." Naruto leaned back, exhausted. "What makes it any different, now? If I hadn't stopped Kakashi when I did, you might not want to go after Sasuke. But now you remember it all, or most of it, anyway. And that will fuel you for the hunt."

Kakashi nodded. "I'll have to store your memories away in the ANBU archives, and then we'll see about getting you a trainer."

"A trainer?"

"I'm thinking The Legendary Sucker," Kakashi continued, ignoring the look of shock on Sakura's face when she heard her trainer's name. "She's got some of the same powers as you, plus, she knew the Snake Lord before he defected."

_Defected._ What an ugly word. Sakura's mind spun once again to one of her earliest memories of Sasuke, on the night he and Naruto had taken her out for dinner.

"_If a superhero turns evil, they can go back and guess at what might have caused the change," Sasuke said. "They can also guess at how the new villain might use his powers, and thus choose from among the ANBU ranks the best person to defeat him. But that rarely ever happens; superheroes never defect."_

"They never defect, eh?" Sakura murmured. "How wrong you were, Sasuke-kun." She straightened up. "How long will training take?"

"Depends," Kakashi said. "It might take anywhere from a year to three years."

"I saw something when I was hacking into the Snake Lord's database to find the quickest way to Sasuke," Naruto added, seeing the worried look on Sakura's face. "It said that the cylinder we destroyed was charged to run for two years. So after they get a new one built, we still have two years to wait."

"Why can't we get him before then?" Sakura protested. Kakashi looked up.

"It's not worth our time. If you guys want a mission to rescue a fallen superhero, then you go right on ahead. But first, you'll have to take other missions, prove yourselves to be worthy and reliable, all after your training, of course. So the earliest you possibly COULD go after Sasuke would be about two years."

"Two years…" Sakura murmured. Two years was a LONG time.

"We've got time," Naruto reassured her. He drew a kunai and, ignoring Kakashi's protest, nicked his finger, drawing blood. "Sakura, on my own blood, I'll swear to you that together, we WILL bring Sasuke back."

Sakura laid her hand over his, and, in only a second, the cut vanished. She smiled at him.

"We're superheroes, so we'd better start acting like them!"

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**Review, review, REVIEW!!! Need those things so I can keep working on the sequel! Note: I will probably post the first sequel under Naruto and Sakura, it is NOT a NARUSAKU, they are simply the main characters. **

**Thank you for reading, and I will post a notice telling you guys the title of the sequel! **

**Love, Rhulain**


	17. Information on the Sequel

OK, guys! I've got the sequel!

_Mission One: The Poisons Master_

You can go to my page and it'll be under my stories, or you could just hunt around in the SasuSaku story list until you find it, but I think my page will be faster. Yeah. :)

Thanks for following this story up until now! Can't wait to see what you guys think of the start to the sequel! Love ya all!

Rhulain


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